Idalia's heart was beating so fast in her chest, she thought she would collapse from the lightheadedness.
This was their moment to prove themselves to the Misteltein Guild. The quest might only be C-rank but the reputational reward that will come out of it will be immense for her future as an adventurer.
As someone who relies on this profession to support her livelihood, her success or failure will heavily impact her life. She vowed to be obedient to her party leader and never cause trouble.
Is it unfair for her to feel so anxious while the literal strongest swordsman on the continent is watching the two to ensure they're safe? No, this is normal. And she shouldn't be complacent just because he will step in if the two are in danger.
"Are the igniters on your side ready?" her teammate and significant other asked.
"Yes. How do they work again? Just tear the scroll, right?"
They had bought these scrolls and magic incendiaries at a magic store. There was no need to worry about quality since Josephine provided them a lot of money to get the best items for the quest.
It feels really good to have a guild behind them as support.
"Yeah, a signal will be transmitted through the mana in the air after we tear these scrolls." He opened the bag slung over his shoulder and handed her a scroll, "There's a delay though so if the Basilisk comes for us before the fire net is up, I'll ignite the gunpowder we sprinkled on the dead trees with a Molotov. Just make sure you don't get the scroll wet. The dried magic grease on the paper won't work as intended otherwise."
"Got it…"
Shaun didn't seem nervous at all, a stark contrast to her. She was visibly shaking and her eyes kept darting to the sea of trees deeper into the swamp, thinking a danger lurked nearby.
She's not proficient in sensing signatures yet so even if she tries to sense what's out there, all that comes back is confusing signals she won't be able to pinpoint or verify. She would rather not be paranoid enough to try since she has full faith in their Guild Master.
Speaking of him, she caught him staring at her earlier.
Oddly enough, his gaze was less of a man lusting after a woman and more of a grandfather looking at his grandkids play. That's her observation at least.
Seeing that gaze, Idalia wanted to do her best. There's a reason why the guild master of an entire guild, chose to take the time to observe his juniors.
They can't disappoint him.
This might not be the typical "kill monster, hand in reward" quest but it will still test most of what the two learned while part of the program. The two of them are highly educated so they could pass the written exam easily, but they haven't been putting their practical skills to the test in a real monster fight.
Today is an opportunity to show they belong in the Beta Party.
"Alright, release the grapples on my mark." He came over and spoke.
"Got it!" she repeated the same "yes sir" line she had been saying for the short time they had been here. She found him barking orders to be quite charming—he was taking the lead role, like a provider, a father, a commander.
Shaun readied himself on his knees while holding the net… before throwing it into the air: "Pull!"
On his command, she pulled a string connected to the net which instantly sent a thick rope at the top of the net flying towards the big tree nearby. The spike end of the rope lodged itself deep in the bark with a satisfying thunk. The oil-soaked net stretched across the murky clearing, glistening faintly in the sunlight.
A sickly fog clung to the swamp, making every sound—every ripple, every croak—feel closer than it was.
Shaun gave a short nod as he looked up at the tree, his expression calm and focused. "Good. That's our first line ready. On to the next one."
The two went to the other end of the net that was still laying on the ground. The two then did the same thing as before and now the net was hanging down from two trees.
"Alright, time to hide it." Shaun took out a small bag and put his hand inside. He then pulled out a balled fist filled with sparkling pink dust. He then threw that dust onto the net. Instantly, the net began to fade from view.
Idalia squinted her eyes, "I think I can still see it."
"That's nothing to worry about. The Basilisk will probably only see red and not notice it while we're taking its eggs. Come on, let's get the other traps ready. That thing will definitely chase us even if we get away on the wagon."
"Right…"
They spent a few more minutes getting more traps ready. It was quite exhausting, much more than fighting against goblins. Or maybe Idalia was feeling mentally exhausted from constantly fearing that something might jump out of the vegetation?
The two then coated their own weapons in oil and began to move towards the nest.
A dagger was suddenly thrown at one of the trees right next to them. It came from an unknown location but they were sure of who it was—Nova.
That means… it's nearby.
The trees in the distance suddenly began to bend over and birds cawed. The frogs stopped croaking and the crickets stopped chirping.
Then she heard it. A low, drawn-out hissss that rolled like thunder through the fog. The surface of the swamp water rippled unnaturally.
"Shaun…" she whispered.
"I see it." He didn't look back—his eyes were fixed ahead, on the glint of movement between the twisted roots. The thing was slithering closer, a shape too large for any normal serpent. The faint moonlight caught its scales—black-green, slick with slime, reflecting like shards of shattered glass.
The Basilisk.
It was bigger than either of them imagined—its long, serpentine body coiling between the reeds, its head raised, forked tongue tasting the air. The sight of its yellow eyes made Idalia's breath hitch. Even without meeting their gaze directly, she felt the weight of its killing intent.
"Don't move too soon," Shaun whispered. "Wait until it's under the net."
The creature's nostrils flared. It hissed again, louder this time, a fetid gust of rot blowing their way.
It was circling now, trying to find the source of the oil scent. The swamp bubbles popped and gurgled around its weight.
"Almost there…" Shaun muttered, pulling the cork off one of his Molotovs.
A sudden rush of air—then the creature reared up, opening its maw. A noxious green gas exploded from its throat, a cloud of poison sweeping through the clearing.
"Poison breath! Move!"
Idalia dove behind a fallen log as Shaun rolled the other way, the gas hissing past them. The grass shriveled instantly where it touched.
"Now!" Shaun shouted.
Idalia tore the scroll in half, her fingers slick with sweat. A spark of blue light shot into the air, followed by a faint whoomph as the oil net caught fire. Flames raced along the soaked ropes, lighting up the swamp like sunrise.
The grapples were separated from the rest of the net, causing it to fall down on the Basilisk.
The Basilisk recoiled with a furious hiss, thrashing against the burning perimeter. Fire reflected in its glassy eyes as it writhed and crashed against the trees.
"Trap one—go!" Shaun pulled another line, and a volley of spiked boards sprung up from the mud, closing off its retreat.
The beast lunged in panic toward Idalia—but its tail struck one of the dead trees dusted with gunpowder.
"Shaun!"
"I see it!" He hurled his Molotov.
The bottle shattered against the trunk, and the explosion that followed rocked the ground beneath their feet. A roar of flame surged up, engulfing the Basilisk's flank.
For such a simple trap by amateurs, the fire was appearing to do a lot of damage.
The creature screeched, scales sizzling, as it slithered backward into the swamp water to extinguish itself.
"Now's our chance—grab an egg!" Shaun shouted, grabbing Idalia's wrist. They dashed through the smoke, lungs burning, as the Basilisk flailed wildly behind them.
Both of them quickly grabbed an egg each and dashed in the direction of the wagon. This might seem stupid since they could simply split up, confuse the Basilisk and lead it right into another trap. But they had a different idea in mind—the mines that spewed fire.
Since they left painted rocks above the traps, they would be able to avoid triggering the mechanism that goes off when the pressure plate is weighed down.
As they ran, Shaun continued throwing Molotovs at the trees, making tall pillars of flames rise. They don't have to worry about the fire spreading to the forests south of here since there's a considerable amount of water spirits in the air that can douse the fire beforehand.
Without even looking back, they could feel the monster gain on them.
One of the dead trees suddenly fell over as the fire had burned it right off its dead bark. That slowed the Basilisk down.
'This isn't any ordinary fire!' Idalia was right to trust the magic store to deliver high quality products to make this fight easier. Most of the stuff they used in the past either never worked or didn't give the desired or promised effect, traps specifically.
If they chose the affordable option, it would've literally cost them their lives sooner.
But these traps worked as intended and is slowing the Basilisk down.
"I-It's going through the fire!?" Shaun shouted after glancing back.
Idalia looked as well, noticing the Basilisk was putting itself in harm's way. Its skin was peeling off from the flames and one of its eyelids was burned off.
"Shit, it's gaining on us! But it looks like we're near our strongest traps—the mines!" just as he finished saying that, the two exited the swamp forest. They then picked up ropes that were sticking out of the sand and pulled it as they ran. This is an older trap they set up before coming here so there was a worry the oil would've been taken by bandits but surprisingly, it was still there.
The oil fell on top of the Basilisk, covering its entire body in the substance.
It didn't stop coming for the two.
"Keep an eye on the ground, Lia!"
"I know!" the two ran quickly but carefully over the grassy field.
The wagon was somewhere in the distance to their right but they had to slow the Basilisk down first before going there.
Its scorched hide steamed, each step leaving a trail of smoke and sizzling blood in its wake.
Then came the click.
A blinding flash erupted beneath the creature's foot, followed by an eruption of orange light that swallowed its lower body. A violent plume of fire roared upward, twisting around its legs and tail like a living serpent. The Basilisk screamed — a guttural, ear-splitting cry that rattled their bones — but it didn't stop moving.
More mines detonated in quick succession. Each explosion was like a furnace erupting from beneath the ground, hurling chunks of flaming earth into the air. Oil-coated grass caught instantly, spreading the fire outward in a circle of spiraling heat. The beast staggered through it, its body drenched in the oil from earlier, every breath feeding the inferno that clung to its scales.
The flames climbed higher, devouring it whole. Its thrashing tail smashed through trees and sent fire spiraling through the field, and its last desperate roar melted into a shriek drowned by the roaring blaze. Within moments, the Basilisk's outline was lost in a wall of fire — a writhing silhouette that gradually crumbled and fell silent.
Shaun grabbed Idalia's wrist, pulling her onward as embers rained around them. "Don't look back! Keep running until you can't feel the heat anymore!"
She didn't need to be told twice. The air behind them glowed red and orange, and the stench of burning flesh chased them through the smoke.
When they finally reached the ridge near the wagon, Idalia risked one glance back — the entire swamp edge was ablaze, a curtain of fire marking where the monster had fallen.
Shaun put the egg down and crouched beside Idalia, panting but grinning. "You did good. Didn't even drop the scroll that kicked it all off."
She managed a shaky laugh. "You have no idea how much I'm shaking right now imagining if I had screwed that up."
"Hey, we're still breathing. That's already a success in adventuring terms." Shaun then went "ah!"
"Do you think we can get a bigger reward for taking proof of the Basilisk's death with us?"
"The reward is 40 gold coins, four times what we can get for the eggs since they can harvest its poison organ directly so yeah…"
"Honestly, I think we went a little overboard with the traps. We should've gone for more firepower…"
At that moment, a sea of twinkling blue lights appeared out of nowhere. They began to move towards the swamp, where the flames were going off wildly.
"I feel kinda bad for doing this… Don't spirits die when using their powers if the Water Land Goddess isn't in the area to supply power to them?"
"Yes… But I heard more take over for every spirit that dies."
A blue energy fell onto the flames like fog blanketing the land.
It was slow but the flames began to die down before it could spread too far.
"Huh?"
It was a beautiful scene, harmonic to the point of calming their beating hearts. However, their faces paled when they saw that the Basilisk… was gone…
◊◊
The sound of slurping and sucking resounded in the quiet swamp after the destruction from earlier ceased.
Arnold looked down at Lucia whose eyes were narrowed in excitement as her head bobbed back and forth on his member. Even as her head moved, her tongue scraped his frenulum and kissed the back of his head which sent immeasurable pleasure up his spine.
You would think Lucia was in love with how happy her expression was, like a maiden thinking "hehehe, I'll drain you dry, my love." But no, she was just a woman who liked sex a bit too much so she would be happy with pretty much any dick her mouth finds.
But that's fine.
He's too pent up to care who finishes him off.
A popping sound echoed when she pulled his member mouth of her small mouth and began to kiss his sack like it was the most precious thing to her. Her strokes never stopped. She was giving him incredible pleasure using just one hand and her small tongue and mouth while she was pleasuring herself.
She suddenly stopped and closed her eyes, bringing his head to her nose and sniffing. The sound of gushing water came from between her legs.
"Mmm~…" she moaned then put his member to her cheek, her face not even as big as its entire length, "Hehe, sorry for coming before you, stud. As an apology, I'll let you look at my breasts."
Saying so, she lowered her top, revealing her double Ds. If he wasn't at maximum hardness before, he was now.
The veins around his shaft pulsed and his erection grew even stronger, making the head bulge.
"W-Woah…"
"…" he silently grabbed the back of her head and his member and put it back in her mouth.
Yet again, her eyes narrowed in glee, maybe happy that he was being assertive.
The slurping noises continued.
He felt something hot stir around his crotch.
But before he could focus on that pleasure, a large shadow cast over the two and something growled right next to them.
Since it disturbed the pleasure, he opened one eye to look up at it.
The Basilisk.
Since it failed to pursue the newbie adventurers, it wanted to take out its anger on something else.
Lucia just kept sucking as if it wasn't there, confident it wouldn't be much of a threat.
Its body was half charred and the goo dripping from its mouth was still on fire here and there. It opened its maw, its throat gurgling out more goo. When the goo landed on its hot tongue, its turned into a hot gas that was ready to shoot out at any moment.
But before it could.
With an annoyed sigh, Arnold covered his hand in Aether and swung it lightly as if swatting away an annoying fly.
The powerful wind formed from that single gesture compressed into a single, invisible arc that tore across the landscape, rending the trees in its path to splinters. The earth itself split open beneath the force, water and mud exploding outward in towering plumes.
The beast disintegrated where it stood, its half-burned body vanishing in a burst of mist and flame. The shockwave didn't stop there—it swept through the surrounding marsh, flattening everything within a hundred meters, leaving nothing but smoking craters and the skeletal remains of trees stripped bare.
At the same time, Arnold grunted loudly and finished in Lucia's mouth and painted her beautiful face but this was drowned out by destruction turning half the swamp into ruins.