Chapter 294 - Girlfriend Get?

Mercury woke up, he felt a headache coming on and let out a groan

""Water…""

And was surprised to find it echoed by another voice 

'Wait…'

Mercury looked to his side and was a little surprised to find Julia that seemed to be just as surprised to see him too, after blinking her pretty blue eyes a few times she showed a smile and spoke almost like a purr

"Morning~"

Mercury paused, closed his eyes, and counted to three before he opened them again, there was just a small problem, Julia was still there

"Well, this is odd…"

Julia rolled over on her stomach and popped her head up with her hands with an intrigued look on her face

"What part?"

Mercury swallowed what he was about to say as a fragment of memory appeared in his mind, then he spoke as if reciting words he had repeated a few times before

"Well… My luck with women usually isn't this good"

Julia blinked a few times before she let out an enchanting giggle and spoke in a cheerful tone

"That's a good one, did you make that one up just now?"

Mercury showed a smile

"I have no idea… It just felt natural"

Julia showed a slight pout before she grumbled

"Which means you have used it enough times for it to feel natural…"

"...Wish I could deny that…"

A few moments passed in silence before Julia added

"Well, in that case, we know you have experience with women"

Mercury got a bit confused as he tilted his head to the side

"Really?"

Julia gave a nod and showed a suggestive smile

"Jep, at least I am very satisfied with your... Performance, last night~"

"Well… That's… Neat…"

Julia let out another giggle before she jumped out of bed giving Mercury a full display as she began putting on her clothes, he lay there for a few moments and enjoyed the view but was interrupted as Julia spoke

"Come on now, out of bed, rise and shine and all that"

"Sure…"

Mercury sat himself up in the bed and swung his legs over the edge of the bed before he began massaging his injured right leg, Julia stopped and looked at his movements, Mercury explained to her

"It's to improve the blood flow, by stimulating a few spots here, here and here it speeds up the healing process a bit"

"I see… Do you remember how you got injured?"

"Yup… Molten rock"

"Molten… Rock?"

"Yup"

"That must have hurt…"

"Sure did, see my hands are also burnt a little"

"Wait why are your hands burnt too?"

"Because I panicked and tried to remove the molten rock with my hands"

"Oh…"

An awkward silence spread in the inn room before Mercury gave a fake cough and changed the subject of the conversation

"So… Hand me my cane?"

"Sure, here you are Mercury"

"Thanks"

Mercury and Julia got dressed in silence and when they were dressed Julia looked at Mercury for a few moments before she spoke

"Remember I am not an easy woman"

Mercury blanked for a moment before he gave a nod, then Julia continued

"I slept with you because I like you, I don't sleep around"

Mercury gave another nod

"Nod one more time if you understand"

Mercury was about to nod but then he closed the distance in an instance and embraced Julia before he leaned in and kissed her, after a few moments he broke the kiss a bit surprised over his own boldness and saw that Julia had a light blush on her face, then the words flew out of his mouth

"You're my woman now"

Julia gave a meek nod before she leaned in on Mercury that only just now realized what he had just said

'Welp… Girlfriend get?'

The two of them ate breakfast together at the inn before they headed to the guild, Mercury to look for a request and Julia to work when suddenly Mercury got a chill up his spine, without really realizing what he was doing he grabbed Julia and jumped to the side, just as the two of them landed on the ground a red laser beam a few meters wide melted the ground where they had just been standing along with the houses in between the golem which still was outside the city and the spot where it had been aiming for Mercury, Mercury looked back at the melted cobblestone with fear evident in his eyes

"Mercury! Are you alright!?"

Mercury got onto his feet, or at least he tried to as he quickly realized that his legs were frozen

'I nearly died…'

"Mercury, snap out of it!"

A slap sounded out as Julia slapped Mercury across the face once before she spoke again

"Are you with me?"

Mercury gave a nod as he was pulled to his feet by Julia

"Y-Yeah"

"Can you move?"

"Yeah"

"Okay, what was that?"

"A golem… Or rather a pair of them, sh---"

Mercury pushed Julia to the side before a concentrated laser beam shot through the buildings and landed right on his chest melting most of it in an instance as it carved a hole straight through destroying his heat as well as most of his lungs, Mercury breathed super-heated air which roasted his windpipe as well as the inside of his mouth before he fell to the ground Julia screaming all the while

'Shit…'

[You really are a handful Mercury~... Oh well hold on for a bit and I'll fix you right up~]

'Where..?'

Mercury's eyes slowly regained focus as he slowly realized he was staring into the sky, then he slowly got up from the ground as his sense of smell returned he could only smell burnt flesh

'I died..?'

Mercury patted his chest and realized that his chest had healed itself as he did a voice sound out in his head

[Do you really have time to lay around Mercury~?]

"Party..? What do you mean?"

[Your girlfriend is going to get melted if you don't help her soon~]

"Julia!"

Mercury gritted his teeth and struggled to get onto his feet

"Damn it! Move!"

Slowly he got onto his numb feet, then he opened his hand and made his cane fly over, as he grasped it, he looked towards the sound of battle and… froze as he was about to take a step

'Or I could just run away…'

Mercury hesitated for a bit before he suddenly slapped himself in the face and yelled

"MAN UP GODDAMMIT!"

Then he took a step, and then another and another, before he knew it he was in a full sprint towards the sound of the battle, he ignored the pain that shot through his injured leg, he quickly neared the walls where he found a newly melted hole and squeezed though and was greeted to a hellscape on the other side, dead and injured adventures, as well as guards, were all over some were groaning and screaming from pain while others laid with their eyes open, unwillingness and disappear frozen on their expressions as they had long since breathed their last, then as he was frozen from fear of the hellscape in front of him sound returned to his ears along with the sound of a crossbow bolt flying through the air

"Julia!"

His eyes darted over as he saw Julia along with a few adventures keeping the golems at bay, their numbers were reduced every few minutes though by the looks of it as the beam laser fired 

'I need to get rid of that...'

Mercury tapped the ground with his cane, instantly forming a few spears made of compressed rock

'That won't be enough…'

The spears compressed another size with a crunch before they began spinning as Mercury waited for his chance, right as the protective armor around the focus crystal in the forehead of one of the golems retracted as it warmed up to fire at the adventures Mercury saw his chance and narrowed his eyes before he fired off several spears at the head of the golem a few of them missed their mark but one struck true and hit the center of the focus crystal shattering it which then made the charged energy go berserk as a few sparks flew out of the damaged focus crystal before it exploded along with the head of the golem, the golem froze before it slowly tipped over sending a cloud of dust flying over the battlefield, the adventures and guards were baffled and so was Julia that looked back and saw Mercury

"Mercury!"

Mercury was in a full sprint making footholds under his feet as he ran before they raised up further and he drew his sword as he jumped and slashed down on the other golem that blocked with its arm resulting in Mercury's sword going about halfway through before it was stopped

"Shit!"

Mercury sensed danger and let go of his sword before he jumped from the footholds as the golem smashed through them with its other arm, Mercury rolled on the ground as the golem smashed its other arm down on him

"No, you don't!"

Mercury raised his arms up as did the rock below him forming a pillar which stopped the blow from the golem, then he closed his hands as the pillar warped around the arm of the golem as he took some distance, at this point one of the stunned adventures woke up from his daze and yelled

"Cover him!"

The adventures went on the offensive giving Mercury some breathing room as he stomped the ground with his leg making a few rock spears from again as he swiftly compressed them before he shouted out

"[Metal assimilation]!"

Then the tips of the spears were coated with the same metal his sword was made from, then he fired off the spears at the golem's joints, a few of the spears bounced off but some of them stuck true and buried themselves into the golem's arm and leg joints halting its movements

'That should do it!'

Then something odd happened, the golem suddenly let out a screaming sound as its joints struggled to move before it then paused and the outer plating dropped off revealing vents, Mercury realized what was happening and yelled

"Get away from it!"

The adventures reacted to his yell and took some distance, or at least they tried to, some of them didn't make it far enough though as superheated air suddenly shot out of the vents turning the surrounding sand to molten stone in mere moments, the adventures and guards that didn't make it far enough let out horrifying screams as they melted into poodles of molten flesh and bone, Mercury quickly formed a few more spears which he fired off at the golem hitting it in its exposed vents further damaging it, Julia saw him targeting the vents and fired off a few bolts at the vents and so did some of the adventures, slowly they ground the golem to a halt, Mercury saw his change and once again closed the distance jumping from elevated footholds that spewed out of the ground, as he passed the golem's arm he grasped his sword quickly yanking it free as he raised it over his head and jumped off the footholds slashing down with all his power on the head of the golem cleaving its head in half before the blade once again got stuck halfway down the head, Mercury let go of the sword and kicked off the body of the golem and guided through the air a few meters before he landed outside of the molten area and slid a few feet before he came to a halt as the golem fell over in the molten sea of stone it had created

"Did that do it..?"

A few seconds passed in silence before Mercury let out a sigh as the tension drained from his body, as he did the strength left his legs as he sat down on the desert sand and… spotted his sword still stuck in the golem

"Oh shit my sword…"

As he cursed a figure jumped into him embracing him with all her might, it was Julia that cried loudly

"I thought you died, stupid!"

Mercury gave another sigh before he patted Julia on the back while looking at the golem that slowly melted in the hot mess of its own making