Book 3: Chapter 68

Vur scratched his snout and lowered his head to the ground. He coughed and shifted his gaze away from Tafel. “Deedee’s a nice person.”

“That’s not what I meant by having something to say about Diamant!” Tafel strode up to Vur’s face and placed her hands on her hips. Vur was still looking away. Tafel sighed and lowered her arms. “Alright. I’m not going to blame you for going off on your own. Just don’t do it again, okay?”

Vur blinked before making eye contact with Tafel. “Really?”

“Really,” Tafel said and nodded.

“Wait, why not?” Alice asked before Tafel could say anything else. “He endangered the whole party by leaving without warning us. I can charge in recklessly because I know he’s there to take care of any problems if things go south. And he’s our healer! What kind of healer runs off in the middle of a dungeon exploration to do his own thing? Do you know how much more stressful it is to fight without a healer watching over you? This past week was a nightmare.”

Tafel chewed on her lower lip. “You have a point….”

“You already said you wouldn’t blame me,” Vur said. His body shrank as he turned back into a human. He stood up and nodded. “That’s why you’re the best wife.”

“I did say that too,” Tafel said, avoiding Alice’s glare. Her eyes drifted onto Vur. “Uh, Vur? Did you get new tattoos?”

“Hmm?” Vur raised an eyebrow as Tafel pointed at his torso. He followed her finger and tilted his head towards his stomach. Two jagged, red lines extended down from his shoulders to his torso, disappearing into his pants. They were like lightning bolts, lining the sides of his abs. Vur tucked his thumbs into the band of his pants and pulled them away from his waist. “Oh, so that’s where they stop.”

Tafel pulled Vur’s hands away, causing his pants to snap back into place. “Don’t do that in front of Alice!” She raised her hand and traced the red line running down Vur’s body. “Is it a new elemental?”

“I’m not sure,” Vur said. He tapped the purple flower tattoo on his chest. “Stella? Do you know?”

“They’re home renovations,” Stella’s voice said. “Don’t pay them any mind.”

“Oh.” Vur nodded. “Okay.”

“How is that okay!?” If she knew how to, Tafel would’ve reached into Vur’s tattoo to yank the fairy queen out. “What do you mean home renovations? They’re just decorations? And don’t treat my husband as your home!”

Stella’s arm popped out of Vur’s chest, and the fairy shook her fist at Tafel. “You’re the one who treated my home as your husband. I was here first.” Stella’s arm disappeared back inside before Tafel could grab her hand. “And these aren’t just for decoration. They’re power-ups! Vur loves power-ups.”

Tafel’s eyes widened as she stared at Vur. “You … got stronger again?” Her expression fell as her shoulders drooped. She seemed to deflate as she let out a sigh, hanging her head. She muttered to herself, “It’s okay, Tafel. It’s okay. One day. One day it’ll happen.”

“Are you alright?” Vur asked and tilted his head. Tafel didn’t respond. Vur looked down and tapped on his flower tattoo again. “What do the red things do?”

“They’re a strength increase,” Stella said. “I absorbed the chimera queen while you were sleeping, and this power was left over because why would a fairy need physical strength? So I gave it to you.”

“One day, you’re going to run out of canvas space on your body,” Mr. Skelly said. He and Alice had climbed down to the bottom of the pit. “And then what’ll you do?”

“Not get any more power-ups,” Tafel said as she raised her head. She nodded. “That’s right. You have a limit to how many things you can randomly stick into yourself to get stronger. There’s a limit.”

Alice raised an eyebrow. “That still doesn’t mean you have any hope, you know?”

“Shut it,” Tafel said, glaring at the diminutive guild master. “Anything is possible if you try hard enough.” She shook her head before poking Vur’s arm. “Anyways, what happened here? What is this place?”

“I think this was the chimera nest,” Vur said. “There were a lot of chimeras. There was a really big one too that took a week to kill.” He pointed at the bloody holes in the wall. “It kept eating the other chimeras inside those pockets to heal itself. Magic wouldn’t work on it either, and it kept heating itself up to melt the ice whenever I froze it.” A wrinkled appeared on his forehead as his torso turned red, starting from his stomach. The redness spread to the rest of his body, crawling down his arms and legs. “Like this.”

Tafel pressed her palm against Vur’s side. “Oh, that’s pretty warm.”

“Warm? Are you kidding me? That’s hot,” Alice said. “I’m surprised your pants haven’t—”

A crackling sound interrupted her as Vur’s pants were set ablaze. Sheryl hopped out of the runes on Vur’s shoulder and dropped down to the ground, taking on her form as a red rock. Her body split in half as she opened her rocky mouth and inhaled, sucking up the fire before it could damage his pants even further. When the flames were gone, she let out a tiny burp before crawling up Vur’s leg and torso, sinking back into her runes.

Vur’s skin returned to its normal color as he cooled down. “Other than that, the big chimera didn’t have anything special. It was a little stronger than Mary, but it was still weaker than me.”

Alice scratched her head, ruffling her hair. “So, this thing nullified magic, couldn’t be frozen, and was stronger than the freak that could tie you in strength in your human form. In other words, if Tafel and Nate and I encountered it, we would’ve lost miserably.”

“That’s not true,” Vur said. “Mary didn’t tie me. I won.”

“You’re not going to deny the lost miserably part?” Tafel asked.

“It took a week for him to kill in his dragon form,” Alice said. “If that doesn’t tell you anything, then you need to take a lesson in reading glaringly obvious cues.” She shook her head. “If that was this dungeon’s mini-boss, then the final boss will be even harder. We won’t make it to Mary’s birthday party in time if we continue. Should we head back?”

“I can record these coordinates,” Tafel said. “We’ll be able to teleport back here at any time.”

A furrow appeared on Alice’s brow. “You know, that’s a really cheat-like ability.”

“Is it? Any time mage can do it,” Tafel said. “Though, I guess, time mages are pretty rare existences. I only know two others. Shall we head back? It’s been a week since we’ve bathed, and we’re starting to smell.”

“Starting to smell? You’ve been smelling horribly since the second day,” Mistle said from the runes on Vur’s back.

“Except for me,” Mr. Skelly said. “I don’t sweat. Being undead is so convenient.”

Tafel rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but you’re dead, so it balances out.”