Chapter 98: Too Stubborn To Die!

"Fucking hell, how many are in there?!" Cutting her wrist with a blade, Helga reached inside her skin. Wriggling her way around, she plucked the last maggots out of her body that had gotten in somehow when she touched Raven's eyelids. Quickly throwing it to the ground, she rose to her feet and stomped on it until the pale worm was burned to a crisp. "This is exactly why I work alone..."

Lifting her head to look at the only conscious members of Raven's party–Aria and Erika. Having gone hunting, Mino had not the slightest clue about the situation, but the ones in front of her were making Helga that much more frustrated with the situation.

'When the hell will Kara bring them outside?' Waiting for the high priestess to be done with the healing process, the barbarian Valkyrie was growing more and more tired of twiddling her thumb and doing nothing.

"So are you gonna tell us what happened in there?" A bit more composed than before, Aria got off the tree stump and began walking towards the Valkyrie. "What's it like? And what the hell is that monster hurting them?"

'Aria, no...' Cringing at the dark elf's lack of situational awareness, Erika wanted to curl up into herself and disappear. Just from a single look at her alone, it was clear that Helga was not in a chatty mood.

"They'll be fine, but tell me something," moving closer to Aria as well, Helga stood towering before the dark elf. Glaring her down with their breastplates pressed together, she bared her teeth with a nasal grunt. "Why the hell did you two stay behind? Especially you? Another barbarian or someone pretending to be one."

"Hey! I–" Before Aria could defend herself, a sudden slap on her face by Helga stunned her body and mind.

"Stop!" Getting up from the ground as well, Erika attempted to close the distance between her and the two, but with just one hand held in her direction, Helga made her reconsider getting closer.

Then as the moment calmed a little, the barbarian woman pulled Aria in by the collar. Glaring into her eyes, she searched not for fear, but the telling look of rage that should be ingrained in every warrior. Instead, however, she found fear and hesitance, something that made her slap the dark elf on the other cheek as well.

"What the fuck are you scared of?!" Shoving her away, Helga leaned forward and screamed into her face. "You call yourself a barbarian, you wear a bunch of cosmetics to look the part, but there's not an ounce of courage in those eyes of yours."

"What the hell was all this for?" She murmured while hastily attempting to cast a healing spell.

However, the moment the spell began to take effect, Aria grabbed Erika's hand and quickly shoved it away. A bit surprised by the unexpected behavior, the priestess looked at her stunned, having no clue why she would do that.

"Did she crack your skull or something?! What are you doing?!" Shaking her head, she tried to cast yet another healing spell, but slapping Erika's hand, Aria shut it down in an instant.

"I-I...AGHH!" Attempting to speak, a loud grunt of pain whistled out of Aria's gritted teeth.

"You're a fucking idiot! Let me–"

"NO!" Grabbing Erika's arm, Aria looked her in the eyes. "I-I...I'm g-UGHH!...I'M GONNA BEAT THAT BITCH MYSELF!"

'What the hell did that stupid woman do to her head?!' Worrying that something was truly wrong with Aria's head, Erika had no clue how to convince the idiot to let her heal her body.

Clutching her hands by her chest, Aria took deep wheezing breaths with loud grunting in between. But slowly bringing her body's control back to herself, she stumbled her way back up to her feet. Even so, shaking in both legs, it was clear that the elf needed help one way or the other, and the only question remained, would it be by herself or someone else entirely?

"I-I'm gonna prove h-er wrong, I'm gon..." Growing too tired from the struggle, her mind forced her body to shut down completely.

Thankfully for her, Erika managed to catch her before she fell and broke even more ribs.