Mistress Of The Evil Forest

Case 55: Emma the Molten.

''Miss G!''

Oh god, please don't call me by that...

While I'm cringing at Claire's call, the lump of lava has now turned into a proper humanoid shape: pinkish skin, black scleras, and a pair of solid horns. Together with a creepily large smile, it seems this woman is in the final stage of demonization.

[Inspect denied]

Okay, well. My [Inspect] is indeed only level 3. 

So I exchange the [Acceleration] skill from Smiley to the level 8 [Inspect] from Nova, and only then, I'm able to view the demoness's status screen.

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Name: Emma              

Race: Half-demon                    Title: The Molten

Level: 43

HP: 102/102                    MP: 127/130

STR: 5.0                     INT: 5.6

AGI: 5.4                    STA: 5.1

Skill: [Fire Magic Lv.8], [Liquefaction Lv.7],
[Accuracy Lv.6], [Inspect Lv.5], [Water Magic Lv.5]
[Auto Regeneration Lv.5], [Inspect Evasion Lv.5]
[Fire Resistance Lv.5], [Pain Tolerance Lv.4],
[Language Lv.4].

State: Excited.

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A fire-water combo? That's pretty odd. And I've never seen [Liquefaction] before. [Accuracy] is the same one Skely bought a while ago, which increases the, well, accuracy of projectiles. 

Nevertheless, I have memorized her skillset. Switch back to [Acceleration].

''What's this? Rats turned out to be delicious steaks?''

The woman speaks up; her voice has a distinct screechy effect to it, making it uncomfortable to hear, especially for me. 

Holding the Blackstar, which has now turned golden-white, I shot myself at the demoness. From the bottom right, I drag the blade to the top left, attempting a wide diagonal slash.

''!!''

To my surprise, the demoness's body voluntarily splits into two halves, and my blade cuts air instead. 

I see, so this is how [Liquefaction] works. 

''Hahah! To think that I can catch two light rats at the same time!''

A scorching hot aura bursts out of Emma's body. In the blink of an eye, it has enveloped the whole building. From the floor, thick vapors begin to fill the room rapidly, obstructing our sight.

WHOOSH—!

Immediately after that, lightning-fast spikes of molten lava stabs toward us. Fortunately, if I focus enough, I can hear when and where they're coming from, so blocking is not impossible. The problem is the others. It seems they're creating a joint barrier, but that is hardly a stable solution to this.

''Hah...''

So I quickly swap out Ariel's [Language] for her [Wind Magic]. This one is quite low-level, but it will do for now.

Right when I acquire the skill, a source of cool and light energy flows into my body. I wield that energy to make a swirling ball of wind and slap it onto the floor.

PUFF—!

With a loud puff, the vapors are all blown out. 

''Three elements?!''

I can see the molten demoness caught in surprise. The others, aside from Chloe, are similar.

Seizing the chance, I blink to behind Emma and grab her body, not forgetting to infuse ice into my hand to prevent myself from being burned as well.

The scene abruptly changes, and we're now in an endlessly snowing forest.

Let's see how your lava fairs against this, Emma.

''Nova.'' I call softly.

————————!!

''What?!''

In the sky, under the moon, a majestic orca slowly reveals itself. The snow blows even harder, causing Emma's molten aura to shrink rapidly. 

As I jump back considerably, a dome-like net cast by Nova surrounds the demoness, trapping her inside squarely. The orca is pretty smart in this department, I see. It would be much more beneficial for me to kill Emma rather than her.

Change the title to [Queen of North Zircon]. 

Now that I have the bonus INT stat, let's test out my pure magic skill after a while. So I stab the Blackstar to the ground firmly and begin to chant.

''At this moment, I call you—the primordial ice,''
''Harness the power of dead stars, aided by a frozen heart,''

An enormous amount of mana bursts out and swirls around me intensely, akin to a tornado. As I continue the incarnation, the energy gradually transforms into a brilliant golden-white color before condensing to a single spot in front of me.

''At this moment, I call you—the bane of all evils,''
''Blazing lights illuminate my ways, flaming justice fills my heart,''

It soon compresses into a small golden-white ball, floating lazily in the air. Ignoring Emma's desperate shouts and her attempts to get out, I raise my hand.

''Let it explode,''
''Lustrous Glacial—Burst. ''

————————————————————————!!

With a single flick, the ball explodes, sounding a deafening noise, and an unholy amount of golden-white ice rapidly surges forward like a giant beast, swallowing the entire dome-like net together with a large patch of land behind it.

What is left now is a completely cooled and frozen patch of lava, unmoving. As I cancel my magic, the lump of lava quickly turns into grey dust and is blown off by the wind.

[You have defeated a Lv.43 half-demon - Emma]

[Proficiency achieved a certain level]

[Being: Aurora Lv.42 has become Lv.43]

[1 skill point acquired]

I pull out the Blackstar and throw it into the inventory before flying up.

''Good job, Nova.''

H-Hmph, it's not like I did it because I want to or anything, alright?

...Is this the legendary 'tsundere' that Chloe told me?

''Hah... The script is dead!''

The blonde beauty says with a pained expression.

''Well, for one, I am here, and you are not the real Amelia either, so of course, the script is dead.'' I reply, eating away her cookies.

''That woman was supposed to appear later, but... Well, I guess it's good that we took care of her.''

''Exactly.''

Claire has gained two levels as well, which is a big win for us. Though...

''Ugh...''

On the front page of today's newspaper, I am there. ['Miss G' has once again appeared, this time in the capital aiding the Luminous Duchy in eliminating cultists!]—it says.

Aside from the cringey nickname, they actually praise me quite a lot. 

''You know, Claire and that Maria Oriana spoke to the press about you, and I thought they were talking about the savior of the universe, not Miss G.'' Chloe chimes in. ''You got some serious fangirls, Aurora.''

''Mhm, well...''

''Claire got some fame out of this as well. Too bad I took her from the sponsors already.''

''...That smug expression doesn't fit Amelia's face at all.''

''Oh, okay.''

In any case, this episode does make us really pay attention to the deviation from the original plot. We have to be more careful in the future.

''Now that I think about it, did Luxia do anything during all of this?'' I ask.

''Huh? Um... I didn't pay attention?''

''...''

''...''

I properly wore the ring that day, so it'll be fine, maybe...

Moving into December, the blistering cold continues.

The academy is covered by a layer of snow, giving it a bit of a dreamy look, especially under the nightlights from the city.

Here I am, sitting on a bench alone, contemplating. The timer for my [Horror Lord] skill is almost up, and I still have not decided on what to summon.

''...''

So I spend a while more sitting in the snow. Nothing particularly comes to my mind yet... There are simply too many to consider, even with the 'brokenness' constraint.

Now that I think about it, do we have a SCP yet? Both Smiley and Mister Slen are from creepypastas, and the Backrooms is not a SCP either.

''...Good.''

Let's summon it. A proper SCP.

''Aurora.''

Suddenly, someone calls me from the side. It's Nydia with a worried face.

''What are you doing here...?! Go inside, it's so cold...'' Nydia nags as she wipes away the layer of snow on my head and shoulders.

''...Okay.''

Holding Nydia's warm hand, we head back to the dorm.