Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1319  Bad Tingling

"Khm!" Lyra coughed loudly as an obvious warning for Felicity to shut her trap. Now was not the time for this.

But that only prompted Ria to slowly turn toward Lyra and Iris.

Lyra gulped so hard her throat clicked.

"So," Ria began with a cold, calm tone that made both girls straighten. "Two teens having fun at my expense, I can understand. But you…"

She pointed at Lyra.

"Woman whom I trusted with my back countless times, were you laughing too?"

"No!!" Lyra practically cried her response. "Never! I swear! I couldn't reveal anything, or I'd risk our safety, yours included! That's the only reason!"

Ria paused. Her dark expression eased just a touch because Lyra's sincerity shone through too clearly to ignore.

Then her head slowly rotated toward the last one.

Iris.

The captain didn't turn. Didn't flinch.

Iris simply said, flat and immediate, without even waiting to be prompted, "Me too."

Ria's jaw dropped at the shamelessness. She wanted to escape this all by using Lyra's explanation?! No!

"You too WHAT?!"

She marched straight up to the armored back, fists balling - not for real strikes, but for that cute, harmless flurry only disgruntled girls against their friends could produce.

She began rapidly tapping both fists against Iris's back, little thumps against the armor like an annoyed kitten throwing punches.

"My badass bitch of a captain!" *Thump-thump-thump!*

"My role model!" *Thump-thump-thump!*

"You act like your whole life is one epic tale for months! But what do I see?!"

"You blushing at him like some innocent maiden! Tiptoing toward him! Kissing his cheeks! THE CHEEKS of the man I've been raving to you about for MONTHS! And then you dare pretend nothing happened?!"

*Thump-thump-thump-thump.*

Iris let out a grunt.

"Stop this."

Her voice was firm.

But her face was not.

Heat climbed up her delicate skin in a sharp, rising wave she couldn't stop. Her fingers curled at her sides. That alone would've been bad enough.

Then her back straightened.

Something felt wrong.

For once, it was not her danger senses that were tingling.

This was something worse.

A prickling sense of doom crawled up her spine.

Her eyes darted around the place.

And she found it.

Ayame.

Standing many steps away, blending into the greenery almost perfectly. She stood there leaning against the branch of a tree with her arms crossed, sporting a leisurely posture and had her head tilted.

And a grin, slow, smug, victorious in the most infuriating way, aimed squarely at Iris.

Iris froze.

No blade, spell, or monster had ever hit her this hard.

That woman.

That oriental cunt she'd sworn to beat into the ground one day.

The one she had blissfully not seen for months, thanks to her expedition.

The one she had almost forgotten existed.

Ayame's grin widened even further the moment their eyes met.

Iris's stomach dropped.

Ria pummeling her?

Manageable.

Felicity squeaking in laughter?

Ignore it.

Lyra trying not to break into giggles?

Expected.

But Ayame giving her that look…

That was a nightmare. A reality that must not be permitted to exist.

Iris snapped.

She yanked her helmet down with a clank, visor slamming shut in pure self-defense.

"Enough."

"You don't get to hide, coward! Show your shame! This is what you deserve!" Ria declared as she kept up her harmless, rapid little fist-thumps against the armor.

Iris stood rooted to the spot, shoulders locked, visor down, taking the world's weakest assault, but felt that it was a brutal execution.

Lyra pressed a hand to her lips, her eyes watering from the effort not to burst.

Felicity had already dropped into a squat with both arms around her stomach as she shook with not one bit silent giggles.

And Iris, the stoic, disciplined, unshakeable Iris, remained frozen stiff while the tiny barrage continued.

Her muffled voice seeped out from behind the helmet, low and strained.

"I said stop this…!!"

An order that once would've ensured Ria instantly fell into line and behaved perfectly, sounding more like frantic pleading.

Iris was only back in the gang for less than an hour.

And she was already feeling a murderous rage building inside her.

With her hands balled into trembling fists, she swore she'd beat that slit-eyed midget to a pulp even if it was the last thing she did.

…

While the four girls kept their antics up, Orianna's vines continued climbing and twisting in the tunnel below, thick enough now that they blocked the view completely.

"They're gathering behind the vines," Orianna mused, sounding pleased at pushing the Covenant forces back. Due to the Consortium not interacting with them much, there was no hostility between the sides. Though it still felt amusing to the woman that she was holding back so many undead monstrosities with her vines because they were symbolic of life, of nature, of nourishment. Those dead, unnatural, and eternal beings were something she felt natural distaste toward on an individual level as a nature lover. But that didn't change the fact that… "More of them are arriving by the second. They can't push through easily, but the pressure is building. I'll keep reinforcing my vines, but I would be shocked if they don't have some corrosion-type attack."

She grimaced with evident disgust at the mere thought of her vines being destroyed by some anti-life spell, "That would be troublesome."

Vex patted the pink-haired woman's back. "Even if you hold this spot, they aren't foolish. There's no chance this tunnel only has one path. They'll crawl out through another exit and move toward us on the surface."

Raika rolled her shoulders once. The bruises along her arms from her last few days' multiple hard-fought battles barely showed, let alone slowing her down. "Good. They break easily. I love fighting them."

As a brawler specialist, facing dark mages who were weak to bludgeon damage was right up the woman's alley, as even one of her punches had brutal results, as opposed to fighting heavily armored opponents. Thus, she had a good time against the Covenant's members. While the Corpse Animation summons - the necromantic minions - did not provide XP upon their slaying, the undead borne from the Ritual of Immortality did, and very handsomely at that.

"'They' should be here soon," a new voice sounded. It came from Kitsara.

The tone pulled everyone's attention.

A little dryad they were all familiar with sat on the foxkin's shoulders, letting them all know that the daughter who was much stronger than she let on was possibly sensing something.

As for who she referred to…

The next step of their plan.

…

Author: So, uh… Yeah. Sorry, I was having too much fun with the ladies' conversation. It turned out longer than planned. I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless. Tomorrow, we begin.