Sylvia maneuvered through the air, ducking and weaving with the two of them in tow.
Sparkle was having the time of her life, acting as if she were on a roller coaster.
Whenever she found a spare moment, she'd fish out a bomb or two and toss them downward, somehow ending up with the highest kill count among the swarm.
Robin, meanwhile, had finally managed to shake off her initial nerves.
Watching the rhythmic sequence of explosions blooming below, she couldn't help but marvel at the spectacle—while simultaneously wondering just how many explosives Sparkle was actually packing under those clothes.
"Sylvia, Sylvia! Get closer! That bug with the Parasitic Train is trying to make a run for it!"
Right then, Sparkle swung her grappling silk, hooking her arm around Sylvia's. She pointed far into the distance toward a heavily wounded beetle that was currently scuttling backward.
"..."
Sylvia took one look and couldn't help but deadpan, "What do you mean 'run for it'? It's clearly being backed into a corner by your bombs."
"Oh, who cares why! Let's just hijack the train and go! Or do you want to wipe out every last bug here? Tee-hee, I'm down for a massacre if you are."
Cradled in Sylvia's arms, Robin leaned her head over to look down. From their high vantage point, she easily spotted the massive insect with a train fused to its back.
"A train that size... even if we take it, how are we supposed to carry it away?"
Sylvia's pocket dimension certainly wasn't large enough to house something of that magnitude.
"Sylvia has her ways, don't you~? Tee-hee!"
Sparkle spoke as if she were already privy to Sylvia's hidden talents, ushering her to get a move on.
Sylvia personally thought they could just "ride" the train out of there, but the problem was its condition—with the state it was in, would it even function once they high-tailed it?
Still, Sparkle's insistence piqued Sylvia's curiosity. Maybe I should drag it back for Himeko to look at? It was an Astral Express, after all.
Who knew—if they fixed it up, maybe there'd be a Pom-Pom inside this one too.
With that thought, Sylvia nodded, much to Robin's visible surprise.
"Robin, I'm going to have Bella protect you for a moment."
"Bella?"
Sylvia didn't elaborate. Instead, she tossed out a Poké Ball. In a flash of white light, the hundred-meter-tall Benares—Bella—emerged with a thunderous roar, her massive wings beating against the air.
Rumble—!
Beams of light rained from the sky, piercing through the surrounding Swarm.
Though she was small compared to the truly gargantuan insects, Bella's raw power was formidable. Her onslaught was every bit as devastating as Sparkle's explosives.
In the blink of an eye, Robin found herself gently placed onto the palm of Bella's claw. Sparkle landed right beside her, curiously eyeing this Doomsday Beast whose colors looked quite different from the norm.
WHOOSH—!
Bella flapped her wings, conjuring a massive gale that sent the two of them soaring toward the clouds. Meanwhile, Sylvia dove straight down, slicing through the encirclement of the Swarm.
The beetle carrying the train had been reeling since the first two bombs hit it. Its dorsal shell was shattered in several places, leaving it in a pitiful state. It stood no chance against Sylvia's assault; within two moves, the life faded from its eyes.
Sylvia seized the opening and landed squarely on the mangled locomotive.
[Riding EX] skill activated.
A violent surge of power manifested as flames, instantaneously eroding the entire train—along with the uncleared remains of the insect host.
At that exact moment, the entire planet began to shudder violently.
"ROAAR—!!!"
A terrifying screech, powerful enough to pierce the atmosphere, erupted from the planet's core.
A colossal, chitinous limb—stretching tens of thousands of miles into the sky—thrusted out from beneath the crust.
"Sssp... that bug? Don't tell me it hollowed out the entire planet?!"
This was Sylvia's first time witnessing a biological entity as massive as a world. Even though it was a bug, it possessed a bizarre, alien beauty.
However, she knew this thing spelled trouble. If it were just her and Sparkle, they might have stayed for a round or two, but with Robin in tow, this was no place for a prolonged conflict.
Placing her feet firmly on the lead car, Sylvia let the flames envelop the entire vessel. She took control of the insect's massive carcass, using its remaining limbs to propel them toward the heavens.
Trailing a massive plume of fire, the terrifying acceleration quickly broke the grip of gravity, launching Sylvia out of the atmosphere.
Since the bug's body hadn't been fully removed and was now under her control, the sight of a giant insect carcass flying into space was hauntingly macabre.
In the vacuum of space, Sylvia stood atop the train, putting some distance between them and the planet alongside Bella. Looking back, the gargantuan insect seemed to realize the intruders were gone, slowly retracting its colossal limb.
The shattered surface of the planet bled debris into the void, giving Sylvia a brief, haunting glimpse of the true scale of the creature within.
Seeing that the Swarm wasn't pursuing, Sparkle directed Bella to touch down on a nearby planet. Sylvia followed suit, bringing the massive insect corpse down for a landing.
The moment they touched ground, Sparkle couldn't wait. She produced a set of tools from heaven-knows-where and began hacking away at the carcass, trying to pry open the train's doors.
The resulting spray of bug juices was enough to make Robin recoil several steps.
Sylvia reached out to steady Robin, then pulled out her phone to snap a quick photo of the mangled train. She sent it straight to the Express crew's group chat.
--+--
[Sylvia: Conductor, Himeko, look! I found something good.]
[Sylvia: [Image]]
[March 7th: Eww?! What in the world is that?]
[Dan Heng: That looks like a member of the Swarm. It seems to have parasitized a train. Where did you find this? @Sylvia]
[Himeko: Impressive. To think you actually found a lost Astral Express car.]
[Pom-Pom: ?!!]
[Pom-Pom: Passenger Sylvia! Where is this train right now?!]
[March 7th: Whoa—the Conductor looks super hyper right now.]
[Sylvia: It's pretty far out, and things got a bit dangerous. I'll see if I can ask the Luofu to help with the transport.]
--+--
Sylvia sent over the star charts. Himeko went quiet, likely checking the coordinates, but March 7th and Stelle were instantly hooked, pestering Sylvia for the whole story.
Sylvia watched Sparkle, who was now enthusiastically wielding a massive power drill to excavate the bug guts. The whole scene felt absurdly comical.
"Robin, are you bored? Should I send you back first?"
The ship they had arrived in had already moved into a nearby orbit. Looking at how obsessed Sparkle was, Sylvia didn't expect her to leave anytime soon.
"Um... can I stay and help? This actually seems quite interesting."
For some reason, a bright, excited smile lit up Robin's face.
This kind of adventure—one removed from morality or politics—was thrilling. Even though it was dangerous, she felt a rush she'd never experienced before.
She had always assumed she was the type who preferred a quiet, stable life.
Now, she wasn't so sure. Perhaps she just hadn't been on the right kind of adventure.
After considering Sylvia's suggestion for only a moment, Robin declined.
She even jogged over to Sparkle's side, asked for a spare giant drill, and started digging in.
She looked for all the world like a delicate poet suddenly possessed by the spirit of a heavy-duty laborer.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.