"That could''ve been finished ten minutes earlier if you hadn''t wasted time with the orbs surrounding the Object Cmity," Kuzunoha remarked with biting sarcasm, pointing her umbre at the decimated field. "As expected of a kilnn, they are so great at fighting fire with fire instead of using water to quell the forest fire."


    Verina red back, wiping the sweat and ash from her brow. "Wasted time? I bought us time, you unruly fox. If we had just followed your brilliant lead and subdue it when it''s at its utmost stable, this entire area would be a crater by now."


    Kuzunoha clicked her tongue, her tone dripping with condescension. "Time? What you bought us was unnecessary risk. Dousing the anchored body parts with a flurry of spells was needlessly primitive. You think like a brute, kilnn—forceful, messy. My method would''ve refined the fight, made it quicker, cleaner.


    You just don''t understand subtlety."


    "Subtlety?" Verina''s voice rose in anger. It was quite adorable by the fact that her face stayed with the same deadpan. "Your ''subtle'' n would''ve elerated that thing''s growth! It was consuming every bit of me we threw at it."


    Of course, this was the result of putting two mismatched spellcasters into a single bastion.


    But so far, the two of them managed to do their utmost best while bickering nonstop with one another.


    "Narcy, do you think that what I did was wrong!?" Verina urged her voice to me,


    "Don''t mind her, darling. She is just a little bit heated, that''s all~" Kuzunoha let out a haughtyugh.


    At this point, it was more akin to being a guardian with two children who couldn''t get along no matter what.


    Verina reminded me of that one child who always came up to their mom whenever they got picked on.


    And Kuzunoha was that one mischievous older kid who do the picking,


    These interactions thankfully didn''t affect much of their fighting capability other than adding miniscule negative percentage on their Mood.


    Speaking of Mood, I''m not in the best of mood as of now.


    8 hours into the Ordeal, we barely encounter any Cmity Object whose remains could be useful as materials.


    Even the Velvet Abomination that we fought before was practically non-intractable because of how cognitive hazard they were. Verina burned the remains of that Cmity Object into crisp afterwards.


    Not to mention, the Cmity Objects that spawned this night were mostly destructive in a wide area and were harder to subdue than the usual one we encountered before.


    "Well, at least I''ll be at ease a little bit."


    I thought that Verina was akin to a savior with how useful and reliable she was, but Kuzunoha was on another level.


    She was akin to having a max-leveled character in her ss when I was just beginning the game. In fact, she might actually be well-sought after the game was open for publication.


    As of now, because of the contract, she practically exists in this world as my servant in exchange for learning more stuff about me, and some minor details about blood and experiment.


    Speaking about blood.


    "Seeing you casually drawing your blood from your veins will never sit well with me, Narcissus," Verina voiced her difort.


    The culturalization of the Valtherion''s Blood was being checked directly by Kuzunoha as she stirred the stem of her translucent goblet. "The self-reproducing theonites have already begun settling in your bodily system and imprinting your vessel as their workce. If someone were ever to take a sample of your blood, hoping that they can gain the same healing ability. They won''t be able to."


    "I would have been more d hearing that while not seeing you drooling over my blood, Kuzunoha," I wryly chuckled


    Kuzunoha sighed before she wiped her drool. "It is a little bit disappointing that the culturalization of the gene is still in its utmost early stage. I don''t want to ruin the first-time experience with such ackluster sounding taste."


    "Now I feel a bit insulted."


    Kuzunoha manifested a vial with her arcane dust, storing the blood sample for further research.


    For one''s information, Kuzunoha possessed not the power to create with her arcane spell when she suddenly manifested something or made something vanish out of nowhere.


    Those objects were stored inside her arcane influence. The arcane dust was basically akin to a building block, and what she did was stripping an object into their basic form..


    She then saved the information regarding such object''s configuration inside her mind, so that she could just draw back the deconstructed building blocks and rebuild it into its original form.


    Because of that, I also dered Kuzunoha to be my personal baggage carrier in the future, especially when we began nning to be a little bit nomadic with our bastion cement.


    —


    [Tenebrae Lilium]


    [Description: Tenebrae Lilium is a girl dressed in a gown of wilted ck flowers, her hair crowned with thorns. She stands motionless in gardens or fields, surrounded by withered nts and twisted roots. Her touch causes life to decay and wither in an instant, and the closer one approaches, the more their energy drains away.


    The air around her is filled with the scent of dying flowers, and she silently watches as life fades around her, feeding on the energy of the dying]


    [Hint: Tenebrae Lilium saps the life force from everything around her, causing rapid decay in nts, animals, and humans alike. She is vulnerable to fire and sunlight, but approaching her directly requires immense strength, as her draining aura can incapacitate even the strongest attackers]


    —


    It was the first encounter where I met an extremely human-like Cmity Object despite its danger.


    At some point, it made me hesitate on whether I was fighting an actual Cmity Object and not another human being.


    Fortunately, both Kuzunoha and Verina held zero guilt and hesitation. They hurled all sorts of destructive spells onto the poor child and disintegrated her from existence.


    It was quite the brutal sight.


    After that, I scolded them for overdoing it.


    Because if they just annihte every atom from the Cmity Object.


    I couldn''t carve a single part into any usable material.


    "Narcissus, I never thought that you can be so cruel to carve a child-looking Cmity Object," Verina said with a worried look. "We went to a great extent with our spells because we don''t want to prolong its suffering, you know."


    "Sometimes, darling, a passion needs a gate to prevent them from flooding the entire civilization." Kuzunoha shook her head left and right.


    "... Why am I the cruel person now!?"


    I would never have thought that they possessed such a reserved morality despite living in this world for so long.


    Especially Kuzunoha, since she genuinely thought that I was an uncouth individual who would carve a dead child''s body.


    Well, I did want to carve a dead child''s body in this case, technically.


    —


    [Umbra Pue]


    [Description: Umbra Pue appears as a tiny, faceless silhouette of a girl standing perfectly still in the shadows. She blends into the dark, bing indistinguishable from it, but when light shines on her, she does not disappear—instead, her shadow stretches impossibly long, twisting into shapes that seem to whisper forgotten secrets.


    Her presence turns all light cold and distant, making even the brightest mes flicker weakly]


    [Hint: Her shadow maniptes light itself, distorting the environment and disorienting anyone nearby. She doesn''t engage directly, but her shadow''s touch leaves individuals lost and confused, unable to trust their own senses]


    —


    "... What with the sudden emergence of child-shaped Cmity Objects."


    Not to mention, it was one of the creepiest Cmity Object I''ve ever faced.


    "No, we can''t carve that one either, Narcy," Verina immediately warned me as if I was about to lunge at it for its material.


    "Touching it can be dangerous. I hope that you can maintain distance with it, darling."


    Why did these two suddenly focus on me whenever a child-shaped Cmity Object appeared!?


    The appearance of Cmity Object tonight was rather more active than yesterday.


    We couldn''t really have much of a rest inbetween encounters because of that. Although, the spawning rate wasn''t as aggressive as the night where the Hollow Star appeared.


    That one was on a whole other level.


    —


    [Aetherica Candida]


    [Description: A small girl dressed in flowing white, Aetherica Candida glows faintly, as if made of moonlight. She appears at the edge of dark forests or misty valleys, beckoning wanderers with a soft, ethereal glow. Those who follow her are led deeper into an endlessbyrinth of fog and light, losing track of time, space, and memory.


    She never speaks or stops moving, always remaining just out of reach, her nk, featureless face haunting those trapped in her domain]


    [Hint: Aetherica Candida draws victims into a maze of illusions where thews of time and space do not apply. Those who chase her endlessly be trapped in an eternal cycle, disoriented and unable to return]


    —


    "I know that you''re really worked up right now, but please maintain yourposure, Narcy," Verina casually uttered while facing me.


    "Do you want me to shapeshift into my petite form? I can sate your urge before you go berserk, you know~" Kuzunoha haughtilyughed.


    "I haven''t even said anything yet! Stop ndering me immediately!"