The insect girl faced me, her extraocular muscles rapidly moving, compound eyes made of several pupils surrounded by amber.
Her face was white as canvas, followed by a hungry, sharp-toothed smile. On top of her were two enormous pretarsal claws, both plating at the end into tibial spurs. On the lower inner side there were smaller spurs.
Aside from her face, her whole body, every feminine curve, had a shining black, amber exoskeleton. On her back there was some hard shell, closed, an elytra, possibly.
She grew taller, extending the third joint in her leg, easily towering over me. Her feet were insect feet, solid claws digging into the stone bricks.
My eyes moved upward with non-functioning eyelids, understandable, because I was standing in front of a beetle woman.
ᕙ Lilathea’s Blade Harem System! ᕗ
⟨ ERROR! ERROR! ⟩
⟨ New species found. Analysing body anatomy... ⟩
⟨ DNA match found! This is presumably a genetically modified hummer beetle with a lower concentration of elf cells. ⟩
⟨ INSECT MILF ALERT! ⟩
⟨ Name: NULL. ⟩
⟨ Race: (Transgenic) Beetle. ⟩
⟨ Age: Null. ⟩
⟨ Compatibility rate: 12. ⟩
⟨ Pursue with caution. ⟩
This isn’t funny, she is so terrifying that my brain ignored her large body assets. Let me repeat, I ignored them.
"What happened, human? Pissed your pants? Want to go home, to mama?"
The beetle woman’s voice came from all directions, as if I were inside her domain, echoing. Her tone made a few things clear, she hates humans and could kill me in an instant.
I can’t just summon Seraphine, Sister Maren made it sound like it’s an easy thing to do. I’m also worried about her. She isn’t dead, just passed out but still.
"What are you waiting for, human? Run for your life, feel death chasing you. I want you to feel what we felt back then."
Run? Where? There are students outside, no one knows about the actual danger. I really wished I had someone. Lilathea! You just had to leave right before you were needed.
She tilted her head, lowering her compound eyes as if I were beneath her. Which I was, both physically and metaphorically.
"Humans are so pathetic. Your mana is like a newborn baby to me. It would only take a slight touch of vibration to put you to rest."
She flicked her finger, and at the gesture the surroundings seemed more distorted, my senses overstimulated. My blood crawled wrong, and I felt like vomiting. Then a strong wave hit me and I was sent flying into the wall, definitely cracked some bones.
"Weak."
The vibrations stopped, and I caught myself on all fours. My vision cleared, blood dripping from my mouth. It doesn’t hurt. That’s the painful part.
Am I going to die here? After getting a second chance at life? There’s no way someone would just come and save me.
Even if help was arriving, I would most likely die. I have no mana and I’m weak. Should have used Casllay on strength instead.
I somehow found the courage to look up. The beetle lady was observing me, and further back, Sister Maren was laying flat.
Is there nothing I can do right now?
Then suddenly my eyes were drawn to the stairs. Yes, the stairs. If I can’t go outside, I should go up.
Luckily my body was still responsive. I took a charged step forward, unbalanced, but it lifted me up and I sprinted.
"Oh, that’s more like it, human. Still have some life in you? Well, you chose the wrong path."
Climbing the stairs without counting my steps, the spiral staircase let me see down below. In the center was her. I was way higher than her, but her face told me she was letting me get away.
Then the shell on her back opened, splitting in two and lifting. Semi-transparent, amber-colored elytra spread outward.
The elytra flapped up and down rapidly, making a buzzing sound and blowing dust out of the way.
She was going to charge at me with full speed. She was playing a game. I had to do something.
My survival and gamer instincts kicked in. I have a system!
"System, I want to buy an instant regeneration potion."
ᕙ Potions, bitch! ᕗ
⟨ Instant Regeneration: This– ⟩
⟨ ... 10 Casllay. ⟩
I had no time to read, I saw the 10 Casllay price and bought two. While the calla lilies were forming the potion bottle, my thoughts moved to the next thing.
"Give me the instant damage potion–"
Again, reading the 10 Casllay price, I bought as many as I could, which turned out to be only two. Two regen and two instant damage was all I had.
Just as I was about to grab the potions, I heard the buzzing sound coming closer, at an insanely high speed. Was I not going to get an aura-monster moment?
My eyes didn’t even blink, and I saw her, reaching out to me, arms spreading and the claws on her head shifting grip.
The worst part, her smile said she was getting pleasure out of this.
"Come over here, boy. I’m not going to hurt you. Just want to see what’s inside. You know, curiosity."
"Fuck you!"
I took the instant damage potion and jumped onto her while she was mid-flight, my legs grabbing her like I’m her child. She clearly didn’t expect that, as my weight fell onto her, her balance became uneven.
"You think you can kill me that easily?"
Her mouth was open at my display, the perfect slot for a bottle to fit into. I pushed the potion bottle into her mouth and gave her a puch to the chin. The glass broke with a low impact sound, the contents of the potion spilling into her mouth.
Smoke came out, and with it came the smell of burning flesh. She covered her mouth subconsciously before screaming.
"AHH!!! How dare you burn my mouth!!!"
"Wanna know how?"
Without wasting any time, I hit her with another instant damage potion, like they do in movies with a beer bottle. My aim just happened to be her eyes.
The bottle broke on impact, contents spraying all over her eyes and face. Her balance became even more uneven, and she lost her sense of direction.
"AHHHHH, MY EYES, MY EYES. You burned them, you burned them."
Then she completely lost control, flying in unpredictable patterns with different phases of speed. I couldn’t just jump back to the stairs because of that. At this rate we were going to crash into a wall.
Who cares, it’s not like I can do anything about it. I’m right in front of her chest, and I’m going to enjoy some jiggle physics, before I die from fall damage.