It takes us two days to work our way towards the location of the first praetorian. The facility is large, and it's chock full of monsters that want to impede our progress at every step. They really didn’t want to make slaying their queen easy, as we also have to clear out hatcheries as we go, lest we have to circle back around for them.

  Necromancers have begun appearing more and more frequently, so we have to watch out for them. If a single one is alive, they can easily continue to revive the entire group of monsters. They aren't particularly difficult to deal with, but it is definitely annoying.

  “That looks like a real fun fella.” Liv says.

  In what used to be a large spacesport is a hulking demon, easily four meters tall and with the bulk to match. A [Demon Smasher Lvl 180 160 (Praetorian)], it's interesting that the system actually shows the reduced level. Of course, it has a very large hammer that looks like it really wants to turn us into pancakes.

  “Did someone bring the un-pancakeinator? I think Liv is going to need it soon.” I try to joke, but Moxie is the only one that laughs. I thought the joke was quite funny, perhaps I need to work on my comedy skills.

  “Eh, that hammer isn't that large.” Liv retorts, “I can handle it no problemo. Now those guys on the other hand, are going to be annoying.” She points to the swarm of demons that are gathered around the praetorian.

  I shrug. “If you say so, then let's go have a bit of fun, shall we?”

  “Hell yeah!”

  Naturally, I am sent in first to cause a bit of chaos. Which I do gladly. After all, how could I turn down the opportunity to cause explosions? Moxie looks sad that she is unable to join me, but she is lucky that she gets to explode things without being covered in monster blood. It is really annoying to wash off and it sticks to everything.

  The smasher takes attention off me instantly and rushes towards me. It even tramples over its own allies and crushes several as it swings its hammer. But it's so large and slow that I easily dodge it and drive the rest of the monsters into a few areas. Then with timed precision, Moxie releases a bunch of spells and the smaller monsters go kaboom.

  Liv moves in to distract the big fella while we finish decimating the smaller ones. Stephen provides some cover fire to stop some of the new groups from pouring in. It is hard to notice his effect sometimes, since bullets are kinda fast.

  With all the riffraff cleared out, we can now focus on the praetorian. Naturally, Violet wastes no time and is busy poking around its legs, and she calls me the annoying one. I make my way beside her and I swear she intentionally tries to hit me a few times.

  “Maka, Violet, the weak spot is on the bottoms of its feet.” Stephen shouts, his skill must’ve finally triggered.

  “Thanks o great leader, now how the fuck do we get this guy to fall over?”

  “You should tell it a story, that will bore it to sleep.” Violet says and I nearly keel over in shock.

  “Maka, be careful. You are in mortal danger, Violet just told a joke.” Liv laughs between blows of the monster’s hammer. Her shield is really something else.

  “Why is that such a big surprise?” Violet says as she dodges one of the monster’s stomp attacks.

  “Well, you never tell jokes. You should do it more often, that was a good one.” I quip as I launch a fireball toward its eyes in hopes that it’ll fall over in pain. Of course, it doesn't work.

  “Not true, idiot, I do it all the time.”

  “Ha, good one. So how about we actually, you know, slay this thing?” I propose, “I would be glad to listen to more of your lovely jokes later.”

  “Idiot.” She mumbles.

  “I make it fart.” Moxie says, and a large gust of wind pushes against the monster from behind. It stumbles and tries to catch its balance, but the heavy hammer works against it and it tumbles onto the ground with a loud thump.

  Liv bursts out into laughter and I barely contain my own as I rush towards its now exposed soles. Moxie may be quiet, but she really knows how to make a few words count.

  As I dig my dagger into its left foot, I also throw some Mud Balls to bind its legs to the ground. It struggles to stand but fails under the earthen shackles.

  Violet appears next to me and busies herself dicing its other foot into several pieces. Unfortunately, the monster manages to get a hold of its hammer and swings it right towards Violet.

  I Blink to her side and shove her out of the way, I manage to leap out of the way with centimeters to spare as the hammer flattens the spot where we just were.

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  I reach my hand out to help Violet stand, she looks at it for a moment and then begrudgingly accepts the help. She doesn't thank me though, oh well, one doesn't need to thank friends for such things anyways.

  Unfortunately, in the time it took us to dodge, it managed to break the bindings on its ankles. With a great deal of effort it stands and immediately swings its hammer right towards us. Thankfully at that moment, a wave of Liv’s taunt goes through the air and redirects its attack.

  “Not gonna let that happen you overgrown hydraulic press!” Liv shouts as the hammer slams into her shield and leaves a nice dent that is instantly healed by Moxie. Good thing her paladin class gives a pain resistance skill, otherwise I am sure such an impact would hurt a lot.

  “It looks like our attack caused some damage.” I point towards a large cracked area on its back. “Now how are we supposed to get up there…?”

  “Loser” Violet leaps away from me into a run straight towards the monster. She jumps off the ground and uses her Lunge towards the weak spot and pierces it with a nice cracking sound. But then she is blown back and thrown against a wall of the starport. “Damn, the core didnt break in one hit, what the fuck?!”

  After assessing her to make sure she is okay, I run towards the monster. “Watch how it is done, pretty girl.” I shout as I Blink onto the monster’s back and jab my dagger in as deep as possible. Then I follow it with a large stream of Fireball straight into the hole.

  The demon roars as it starts burning from the inside out. With a loud cracking sound that echoes around the area, its core cracks.

  Of course, that means I get thrown to the ground in a tide of monster blood.

  Ick.

  Violet appears next to me and offers her hand to help me up, she is smiling faintly. I accept it without hesitation, but the moment I am on my feet, she gently punches me on the shoulder, “Reckless Idiot.” Is all she says and then walks away. I try to make the bit of pain last as long as possible, after all, it was Violet that inflicted it.

  I really do not understand her one bit. But I think that was a compliment, though it may have also been an insult. I prefer to be complimented by cute girls, so I am going to err on the side of positivity.

  I walk back towards Liv and Moxie, who seems really tired in comparison with Liv’s unlimited energy. I give them both a high-five and then promptly collapse onto the ground. Thankfully it seems that Stephen managed to take out all the monsters that were lingering in the area nearby, so we are relatively safe it seems.

  Well, as safe as we can be in the middle of a monster hive on a planet that is still thoroughly infested. Oh, how I miss my nice warm bed, this soil is super uncomfortable to sleep on.

  But we get to slay monsters, so that more than makes up for any physical discomfort.

  The FAUD settles into place and projects us a bit more safety. Moxie walks over and offers me some food, which I gladly accept. Then she plops down next to me. “Monster boom good.”

  “Indeed it is.” I dig into the rations that still taste very strange, and we eat in silence. The area is quite creepy, there are wrecks of a few shuttles. But it seems most of it was cleared out by the monsters that took residence here.

  I wonder what made the praetorian choose this place over any other. Or did it even choose? We really don't understand how the monsters think, even at lower levels. So much of this is a mystery, and I hate it.

  But there is one thing that I can do, and that is slay monsters. Thus that Is what I shall do.

  I notice that Violet is sitting alone, which isn't abnormal. But I never saw her grab any food. So I stand up and bring her some, a very normal thing to do I think.

  She looks at me strangely as I approach, her brow furrowing very cutely. The moment I extend my hand, she grows even more confused. “What the fuck are you doing?”

  “You didn’t eat, it’s important to maintain energy. Wouldn't want to give us away with a grumbling stomach, right?”

  “A lady's stomach never grumbles.” She says confidently.

  As if on cue, her stomach lets out a loud grumble and I burst into laughter. “Sure thing, milady. Now eat this.” I toss the ration to her and she catches it. Without waiting I turn around to go sit back next to Moxie.

  As I am walking away I hear a faint “Thank you, idiot.” A large unexplainable smile spreads across my face, but I pretend that I did not hear her.

  I sit back down and Moxie smiles at me. She creates some fancy lights and then shows me a bunch of new ideas she came up with. Naturally, I pat her on the head as a reward for her astounding brilliance. Seriously, how does so much information fit into such a small girl? She must be breaking at least half a dozen laws of physics with the amount of information she has in her brain.

  Lemon has been fairly quiet as of late, so I poke her gently mentally. She politely tells me to fuck off as she tries to feed me as much aether as she can. A dragon’s work is pretty hard now that I think about it. She is constantly feeding me all of the aether – and thus mana – that I so happily burn without all too much consideration.

  Perhaps I should make a cake to thank her.

  I sense approval flow from her, and I take that to mean it’s a good idea.

  I wonder what kind of cake is best suited to a dragon. Were she a normal animal, I would presume something with meat. But dragons aren't animals, so that theory probably doesn't hold up. After all, it’s not like she is a cat or a dog.

  Perhaps something more rare, like a lemon lime cake. Though I bet it will be hard to find a recipe that is freely given. I will likely have to end up buying a premade cake, I doubt she will mind much. Dragons probably don't care about the nuance of a handmade cake versus a purchased one.

  I fall asleep thinking about the very normal topic of what style of cake a dragon would like most. My life sure has changed a lot, huh.

  [Scout has leveled up! Lvl 152 -> Lvl 164]

  [Mage has leveled up! Lvl 148 -> Lvl 160]

  [Average Level is now 162]

  [Lemon has leveled up! Lvl 127 -> Lvl 142]

  [Blink has leveled up! Lvl 21 -> Lvl 22]

  [Stealth has leveled up! Lvl 18 -> Lvl 20]

  [Trace Clues has leveled up! Lvl 8 -> Lvl 11]

  [Magic Fundamentals has leveled up! Lvl 19 -> Lvl 22]

  [Meditate has leveled up! Lvl 6 -> Lvl 9]

  Next Chapter: Bonding With Forks

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