Ch 20 – Decomposition Magic

"Heyo, girls!"

"Shut up Bid... You're too loud!" Mary was seated in front of a small firepit. Her hand, pressed on her temples, clearly showed she had a bitch of a headache.

"Next time don't drink as much!" He thought something for a second before turning back to look at the girls who left the tent. 

Ace had a bit of a face that showed she had a bit of a hangover... But Necro was just the same as always.

"How the fuck do you even manage to do that, Necro?!"

"Huh?" She had no idea what he was talking about.

"Don't huh me! You drank more than Mary! How the hell did you manage to floor her?!"

"... Dunno." Necro tilted her head sideways while answering, almost shrugging.

"Bid, don't pry too deep into their business! Hey, Ace, the fuck happened to your neck?"

"Huh?" Ace was indeed confused. What was he talking about? Necro looked straight at her and turned red. Oh, boy. Ace knew very well what that meant. 

"Ah~! It was a bug! A bug!" She said hurriedly, pulling the collar of her clothes in an attempt to cover whatever it was, blushing.

"And you tell me not to pry too deep into their business..." Bid satirically retorted. Visibly annoyed at Hal's hypocrisy.

Necro held Ace's hand, almost as if saying "It's ok." Pulling her towards the fire.

It was still early morning, and the cold air from the mountains was still blowing. Their clothing was appropriate for the cool weather, but their hands still felt a little cold. 

As the two sat down, Ace realized Mary had dark circles around her eyes.

"You had trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah... Too much noise outside." Mary answered looking straight into Ace's eyes, making her pale.

Necro couldn't care less though and pulled Ace into her lap.

"We'll be more careful next time, sorry."

The boys only heard snippets of the conversation, they hadn't heard anything during the night, sleeping like rocks, but Bid managed to piece together what was going on, blushing himself while imagining something. Hal on the other hand, was denser than lead. 

Atop the fire was a small keg, filled with something very fragrant.

Bid walked towards the fire, while Hal finished disassembling Ace's tent.

He pulled some small metal cups and poured the liquid into them before handing it out for the girls. 

As Necro extended her arm to grab it, Ace spoke to her from her lap.

"That's spiced wine... Good to warm you up but tastes awful."

She started sipping on her cup before Necro had a chance to grab hers.

Bid showed an annoyed expression with what Ace had said... He personally liked it very much. 

Necro turned her head sideways, taking a small sip to try it out, then a large gulp. 

"Fuaaa~ This tastes amazing!"

"WHAT"(Mary)

"How"(Ace) 

"Finally a girl with a sense of taste for wine!" Bid was pleasantly surprised by Necro's feedback.

"The heck you found another weirdo that likes your concoction?!" Hal on the other hand was equally amused, but for a very different reason.

"I told you it was good! It's just not for everyone."

"Yeah... Only for you and the girl who drinks spirits like it's water..."

"Leave us alone! You cannot fathom the depth of the intricate taste of my spiced wine."

"I hope I never learn to like it..." Hal was in awe that someone actually enjoyed drinking that crap. The girls also shared the same impression...

"Anyhow... I'll pick some flowers and be right back." Necro interrupted the conversation saying she was going to take a trip elsewhere. 

Of course she was lying about the reason though.

"Don't go alone! It can be dangerous, take Mary with you." Hal interjected. 

"I'm... embarrassed to do it with her nearby... Can I take Ace instead?"

"Me?! Ah... Okay... I'll go."

The two stood up and turned to leave into the woodlands, the remaining three looked at them leaving in amusement.

"How did these two become so close?" Bid asked himself out loud.

"I wish I knew how to do that..." Hal complemented. 

Mary became beet red as she recalled the things she heard and did last night as she gave one last retort.

"I wish I didn't know..."

""What?!"" The two stared at her, voicing their disbelief. Prompting her to tell them what she knew. 

Mary, of course, was not a person to disclose others' intimacies...

After a couple of minutes walking away from the camp, Necro stopped in a clearer area of the forest.

"Huh... Why would you stop to go to the bathroom in a place like this?"

"Of course that's not what I'm doing right?"

"Ah..."

Ace stared blankly as Necro pulled the whole giant wolf from the storage ring, heavily dropping it to the ground.

"You know you could just pull it onto the ground itself right?"

"Ah... Didn't know... Sorry..."

"No problem... I was just saying. But what are you gonna do with this?"

"Ah... just some preparations... I don't ever wanna be in that position again."

"You mean... When we found you?"

"Yeah... Please don't tell anyone what's gonna happen okay? I'm trusting you."

"Ah... Of course, I'll never betray you like that."

Necro nodded before turning back towards the giant wolf on the ground. Thick dark mana started to accumulate in both her hands, almost as if swallowing all the light around. 

Ace fell to her knees, her eyes glowing in a maddened worship and tears flowing from her eyes like a river as she watched the complex and disturbing magic formation take place. 

Necro's mana flowed underneath the dead corpse. It was a rather simple magic to be honest, but the scale was pretty large. This magic required some media but Necro could manage to cast it, albeit with some lost, chanting it instead;

"Rot, decay, become one with your future as it you shall become, Decomposition"

A sickening stench encompassed the whole area, making Ace gag as the putrid smell of a decomposing body was multiplied by a thousand. She, however, did not take her eyes off of the magic for even a second, as she watched the flesh of the monster slowly turn into a fluid, liquefacting into nothing as it seeped through the ground, leaving nothing behind but clean white bones.

The clarity of that mana, the density of the flow, every single thing about that casting turned Ace on. It wasn't just some casting of a forbidden magic. It was much more. The amount of mana was more than that of her whole mana pool. The size of the magic circle was only a meter in diameter, but it was so detailed it wouldn't sound strange for her if it were to be the size of a whole house. It was unbelievable that someone was able to cast intermediate-class magic like this.

She didn't collapse because the aura was overbearing, she collapsed because her knees became powerless as she saw something she could only dream of taking place right in front of her eyes.