Chapter 439: The Dust Settles, Or Does it?
"It is done." Leaning into the harbor, Arche used the edge of the island as a table to rest her arm on. Looking sideways at Raven, she reached for him with a nail and although she said in a whisper, it was heard clear as day by the baffled islanders. "I'd like to have my reward this very night~"
"Wh-what reward?" Regalia coughed, still struggling in Erika's hand while the priestess healed her legs.
Turning to face the giantess, the wolf-girl growled at the Arachne. Regalia knew Arche's intentions well, and that scared her to a degree. To have a child and eat the father whose flesh would breathe strength into her countless babies–the mastery of her monstrosity was what had kept Raven from doing anything major with her, and although the girls didn't know it yet, he already had a plan to satisfy the spider-girl without any risks.
"Can we talk about this later?" Stepping forward, Raven tapped the ruby bracelet on his wrist. "We still need to figure out where the scrolls went, why don't you keep the other monster girls company while we figure this out?"
Resting her head on the back of her hand, Arche stared upwards at Raven for a while. Her desires, although apparent, couldn't be fulfilled just yet, at least not until the night arrived and the rest of the girls were sleeping.
"Don't make me wait too long, you won't like me when I'm angry…" With those words, Arche closed her eyes and accepted Raven's request to go back into the bracelet.
Right as Arche was gone, the ocean settled and the drowning spiders out in the ocean vanished completely. Taking out Mino and Maine in her stead, Raven looked right at the girls and handed them appropriate tasks corresponding to their abilities.
"Mino, come with me to the ship. We're gonna use your sense of smell to find the scrolls and Maine, the others probably saw Arche already, but I still want you to fly over to them and make them stay at the campsite." Considering the risk of having someone like Moxy rushing over to the bay to check on the situation, Raven wanted to keep the rest of the party at the campsite.
"Why not teleport back and tell them yourself? Won't they trust you more?" Mino suggested, but after being teleported into the middle of the ocean, Raven was slightly hesitant to use the necklace again, just yet.
"Let's just do as the leader says for now…" Walking upfront, Mel shook her head at Mino who was spared the drowning part of Regalia's rescue.
Shrugging her shoulders, Mino let the matter go and nudged Maine on the arms.
"Let's get to work then, each our own." Remaining quiet, Maine neither said a word nor moved an inch. Mino nudged her again to make her move, but the lamia remained stiff as a board. Finally, turning around to look at her, she complained. "Oi! Move it already!"
Staring blankly at the skies, Maine's eyes had begun to glow a silver glow. Her mouth beamed out the same. Grabbing her throat out of nowhere, the lamia's fingers squeezed around her own neck. Her eyes began to bulge and her tongue huffed like a dog desperate for a drink.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Grabbing Maine's hand, Mino quickly moved it off her neck. However, resisting in her own way, the lamia began lashing the minotaur's back with her tail.
'Shit some stupid shit again?! This fuck island I swear!'
Rushing onto Maine's tail, Raven grabbed it at its base and started binding it with chains much heavier than Maine could hope to move even an inch.
Chaos ensued further as the lamia sprouted wings, conjured claws to get out of the shackles and started clawing everyone around her. Her half flight held back only by Maine and Raven was quickly weighed further as the rest of the party moved in to subdue her. First pulling her to the ground and then pushing her into the mud, everyone kept her entire body pinned, and although she tried to shift out of the situation, once Liliayan turned herself into a giant and kept her feet on top of her, Maine's body just couldn't escape.
"MAINE SNAP OUT OF IT! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!" Raven asked, his hands still keeping her face pinned sideways to the ground.
"AhAhaHahAHAHA!" Like a phantom horror watching someone sleeping from a dark corner, the lamia giggled to herself, her teeth all bloody. Her color-changing eyes were now devoid of pupils and her eyelids so dark, they appeared as burnt as char.
"MAINE! YOU STUPID BITCH WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Shaking the lamia from the other side, Mino tried to insult her into a fight, and yet the monster girl continued cackling.
"Erika, come check on her now!" Looking at Erika, Raven expected her to come rushing in, but without Asmodia, even she was afraid of whatever was controlling the lamia. Her priestly instincts were keeping her afar.
"S-something un-godly is i-inside I-I…" Quivering at the sight unfolding before her, Erika was suffering the most right next to the monster girl. Tears welled up in her eyes as the pain coursed through her flesh, but the pain shared was not halved, instead it was multiplied. "AGGHHH! AAAAHHHH!"
Screaming she dropped to the floor and the words of the she-devil rushed into her mind. Considering the priestess the worst of threats, the devil was not just trying to keep her at bay, but also take over her so she could cause even more mayhem.
"ERIKA?! WELL–FUCK!" Having not the slightest clue what was going on, quickly gestured for the rest to walk closer to him so he could teleport them to Linkle at once.
'I sure hope she knows what to do!'
Putting Maine back into the ruby for the moment, Raven had Mel grab onto him and Erika so they could teleport her too.
'It went wrong so quick, what the fuck actually happened?!'
Freaking out even as the teleportation began, Raven truly wished they wouldn't have to stay one moment more on this island than what was required for them to get another ship.