As we moved from village to village to investigate, we found burned-down settlements, blood everywhere, and bones scattered about—not just human ones: there were also goblin, kobold, and even gnoll remains!
These creatures had been used as sacrifices by the Death and Life Knights and turned into undead by black mages and their masters. Only small parts of bodies remained.
An earth-elemental familiar appeared, right in front of Maya.
"Pie pie pie."
Maya frowned at first, then panicked and shouted to all of us:
"We need to get to the next village right now! Immediately!"
We rushed off thanks to Earth, using the ground beneath us and a bit of gravity magic to lighten ourselves, all orchestrated by Earth.
"I really need to create a wind maid! That would help us move faster!"
I looked at Velmira, frowning.
"Velmira, don't you have any beasts or monsters that could let us fly or move quicker?"
"I do, but I wouldn't be much help in battle if I summoned them."
"Maya, what are we up against when we get there?"
Velmira asked Maya, already calculating how much mana she needed to conserve for combat.
Maya answered without hesitation.
"We'll be fighting three Death and Life Knights, plus a horde of low-rank undead. We're not sure if there are any black mages, but we suspect at least two."
"In that case… I can summon a low-rank wind giant eagle to take us faster, but only Mina, Maya, and I will fit."
"Maya, your pentains will have to stay behind and go on their own!"
I had a doubt as we ran.
"Maya, can't you re-summon your pentains? If you store them in your mana heart?"
"I can, but it costs me more mana to re-summon them all. That's why I usually summon them once and have them walk with us—it's cheaper than re-summoning them before every battle."
"But I'll take Poison and Floral."
"They're the lowest rank, so they'll cost less. Poison will help you attack the knights with her assassin skills, and Floral will heal you. Plus, with her wood-element power, she can do group attacks."
After saying that, Maya activated her mana core, shrinking Poison and Floral. Then they were drawn into her body, entering Maya's mana heart.
"Earth and Gold, keep running to the location!"
The two pentains kept running without a word.
Velmira, Maya, and I stopped.
Velmira pulled out an emerald and, in a bright flash of light, summoned the wind giant eagle—a normal eagle, but green and huge!
The stones Velmira uses aren't ordinary ones, but magical stones with embedded spells, creating a miniature world with everything a magical beast might need.
Then the contractor can bind the stone to herself and to a tameable creature, allowing Velmira to release or recall it at will.
Once we mounted the wind giant eagle, we took off, the wind rushing through our hair, eyes half-closed, enjoying the breeze.
Once above the large village, I put on my Doll mask.
"Alright, I'm jumping!"
Mid-jump, I spent points on all my stats under level 10.
I used 9 points on attack, spending 9000 star points, 7 on defense using 7000 star points, and the same for agility.
As I fell, power surged through my body!
My umbrella turned into a kind of short spear, and I plunged toward one of the knights.
"H̶̙̘̮̗̩̲̔̿̈́͝R̷̢̯̳̈́̍͆̀̑͛̋͜A̵̗͂̄̑Ą̸̹̪̱̱͙̦̝̎H̵̛̠̝̲̳͊̅̑̍͊́͠H̴̨̬̺̳̺̻̀̀͂͆͋͂̈Ğ̷̡̥͇͍̜̗͊̄̓̀͘͝!"
"H̶̙̘̮̗̩̲̔̿̈́͝R̷̢̯̳̈́̍͆̀̑͛̋͜A̵̗͂̄̑Ą̸̹̪̱̱͙̦̝̎H̵̛̠̝̲̳͊̅̑̍͊́͠H̴̨̬̺̳̺̻̀̀͂͆͋͂̈Ğ̷̡̥͇͍̜̗͊̄̓̀͘͝!"
The other two screamed as I pierced my target—but didn't kill it.
Meanwhile, the two women and the two pentains arrived as well. Velmira pulled out a red stone, and many hobgoblins emerged from the single hobgoblin queen, attacking the undead.
"Let's do this, my love! Velmira!"
In the world of Star Sup-Natural...
Gina continues to investigate the pharmacy spy, using the same skilled hacker as before, though expensive.
She also keeps going to flea markets: buy small, sell big!