1379 Chapter 1379 It’s Marigold
--- Lily --- Romilda started moving. Lily didn't notice when exactly, she'd been too lost in her thoughts... but it was now clear that she was heading over to Marigold. Something seemed a bit odd about it thought. Lily couldn't quite put her finger on what she felt was wrong with the picture. If she'd scoured her memories, she might have realised that Marigold had both eyes closed as Romilda approached, but that minor detail escaped Lily's notice for now. *Should I swim over as well? Then we can set up a team of three. I'm still not sure it's a good idea but it might just be the best one I can come up with. Wait hang on!* Lily's thoughts of teaming up were shattered when she saw Romilda take an odd stance right next to Marigold. Tendrils of metal snaked off of Romilda and flowed into spear shapes as they arrayed themselves around Marigold. Lily wanted to scream but she clamped her mouth down shut. Revealing her position for nothing would be a bad idea. There was no doubt in Lily's mind that Marigold didn't already know. With that in combination with significant doubt her yell would even reach from so far away through the water Lily held herself back. So much so that her jaw was starting to hurt a bit. Marigold still wasn't reacting. She just seemed to be peacefully resting. *Why? Why doesn't she react?! Why does Romilda think she can get away with this? Does she honestly believe Marigold of all people could be taken out by some poison! If that was the case Thyme would've sent her away to medical!*
Romilda clearly hadn't thought things through, or perhaps she was wilfully ignoring the facts so readily apparent to Lily. Perhaps she just wanted to win a fight. Whatever the case. Romilda didn't hesitate long. She sent seven spears into Marigold total. One through each of her limbs, one through her stomach, heart, and right through the centre of her head. At least. That's what she attempted. Marigold 'sneezed' and the one going for her head missed even as the others slammed into her. Marigold didn't wait long. She simply ripped herself off the spears, leaving large open wounds that healed almost immediately. Romilda was stunned for a moment... and that moment was all Marigold needed. Marigold slammed two palms into Romilda's temples stunning the dwarf for long enough that Marigold's wounds healed up and she was able to drive her knee right into Romilda's jaw. Romilda seemed to flicker for a moment before disappearing leaving all of her stuff behind. Lily couldn't help but swallow deeply. That... that was a much quicker fight then I thought it would be. Marigold didn't even use the spear she left sitting in the anemones. That was... sort of brutal. I mean... I know Romilda is getting healed but that shattered her jaw at the very least and perhaps cracked her skull. Do I still want to go down and work with Marigold?
The answer to that was a very obvious yes. Scary as the short fight might have been, especially when Lily tried to picture herself as Romilda... the truth was Marigold had taken things easy. She'd let Romilda attack her first, let the dwarf prove she was going for 'lethal' strikes and then retaliated swiftly, and without issue. 20:19
The answer to that was a very obvious yes. Scary as the short fight might have been, especially when Lily tried to picture herself as Romilda... the truth was Marigold had taken things easy. She'd let Romilda attack her first, let the dwarf prove she was going for 'lethal' strikes and then retaliated swiftly, and without issue. *I have to go down now. If I wait too much longer Marigold might decide to just go off and fight, or try to find another place to relax. I'm not sure if I can sneak down to where she is... but it's on the outskirts and I can find quite a few streams of bubbles that should hide me from Blue and March so... no time like the present I guess.*
Lily swam over until she was roughly above Marigold and then started to swim downwards keeping careful watch on the steam. Marigold seemed to still be poking around at the items Romilda had so that was fine. The sea-floor was quite a while away, but Marigold noticed Lily's approach partway through her examination. This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com
Marigold gave Lily a raised eye, and Lily decided to burn some of her mana to make her shadow wave back. Marigold seemed to relax at that... but considering Marigold had pretended to sleep while moments away from getting stabbed that wasn't all that convincing. Lily was ready for a fight even if she really didn't want one to break out. If she had to fight Marigold... running was her best bet.
It would probably mean first and second place would be out of reach from that point on. Lily could accept third or fourth place if she had to. If she was being honest, Lily wasn't sure she deserved fourth place. Romilda might have been able to beat her in combat... then again she was also stupid enough to attack Marigold so perhaps not.
Lily let out a small "Eeep" before curling up into a ball. "I... I have a girlfriend," was the best Lily's addled brain could come up with in response.
"Yeah? And she's ALSO hot. I'm totally willing to bed both of you. I consider that a WIN if anything," said Marigold, completely unrepentant for the emotional turmoil she was inflicting on Lily. "Uurrr... um... she's asexual?" offered Lily as she struggled to remember why she was talking to Marigold in the first place.
"Ah but she's a succubus, so I'm sure she'll know how to help us have fun... plus... wouldn't she be most happy with your smiling face?" asked Marigold.
Lily could almost feel the direct stab to the heart. Why did Marigold's nonsense have to start sounding so reasonable. *I need a way to distract myself.* Which of course, meant Lily's mind supplied her with a bunch of memories of Kat naked. *NOT LIKE THAT! Stupid brain! We need to not be horny right now! We had a plan... I think. What was the plan?*
Lily cracked an eye open to look around and perhaps jog her memories, but all she could see was Marigold struggling not to laugh. Lily barred her teeth and hissed. "Naw, am I upsetting you? Honestly Lily this is too much fun right now, and I needed a bit of levity after getting stabbed multiple times you know?"
Lily winced, feeling a bit bad about her responses now. For exactly three seconds. Then she returned her glare to Marigold. "Hey, I can make jokes about it AND be a bit annoyed about getting stabbed you know? These are not mutually exclusive emotions. I mean, I did see it coming, and I totally waited for her to try... but it's just sort of disappointing you know? Surely she didn't think that would work?"
Lily sighed alongside Marigold. "Yeah I'm not sure what she was thinking either,"