Edith placed a hand over her chest and gasped.

"Oh, I’m super scared for my life," she cooed mockingly.

Before the Bug Maid Puppet could react to Edith’s mockery, Deria appeared in a flash by its side, hands wide open and covered with jagged stone claws, and ripped its head from its neck.

"You should pay attention to your surroundings, freak," Deria sneered.

The rest of the Bug Maid’s body slid down the hill as if it were on auto remote control. Its head within Deria’s jagged stone claws dissolved into a mass of spiders, which crept upwards along Deria’s arm, destroying and cracking her stone armour.

"What the fuck is this?"

Deria swung her hand sporadically. The spiders dropped one by one from her hand due to the intense shaking. Without wasting a moment, she stomped on them, splashing green sticky ooze on the rock surface.

"What a creep..... how did your head turn into a bunch of spiders? .....ewwww."

Deria yelped.

The head of the Bug Maid speedily reformed, with layers upon layers of different horrid bugs merging together to form a face.

"Okay... okay, all good now," the Bug Maid meshed its face around to check if it had formed properly.

"Now ...where were we?"

The instant it let those words out, it vanished from its position as if it had become the breeze or wind, leaving no traces whatsoever. Their eyes darted around trying to pinpoint its location.

"Se—"

Edith tried to warn Seria of the incoming attack, but it was already too late. The Bug Maid thrust its clawed tarsi directly at Seria’s face. Just as its massive claw tore through the air toward her face, a cold blue frosty mist blew over and its claw froze over mid-air.

"Tsk, just as I thought, you are the most dangerous."

The Bug Maid tore its claw off from the ice. Purple thick blood sprayed on the sand. Another of its claws ripped through the air. Seria created a sheet of ice over her torso to block its attack, but the Bug Maid was relentless. Its claw pierced through the ice and punctured Seria’s torso.

Vines strapped the Bug Maid from behind and pulled it away from Seria. It landed on the ground with a great BOOM and formed a crater upon impact.

"Seria, are you okay?"

Edith ran towards her, green emerald eyes filled with worry and annoyance. Seria wanted to reply, but a grueling pain seared through her entire body. It felt like she was being torn apart from the inside by a thousand needles.

She buckled to her knees in extreme pain. Her bright blue crystal eyes spun around erratically. Her breathing pattern became unnecessarily hastened. She clutched the sand and blood poured from her mouth.

"I can’t believe it. Poison," Deria exclaimed.

The only logical way to explain the situation was poisoning. The Bug Maid’s attack must have contained some kind of poison. Then again, it was a bug, so...

"14th Tier Spell: Floral Empiney."

A green spell circle burst forth beneath Seria, created by Edith. Flowers sprouted from the sand all around, encasing her in a green and subtle glow.

"A healing spell," the Bug Maid grinned.

"Well, I won’t let you finish."

Its left claw extended forward. Before it could disrupt Edith, Deria bounced forward and smashed a fist into the claw. The force from her attack tore through the claw and purple ooze sprayed out.

"Stay away from my bestie, you bug freak," she clenched her teeth.

"You! This is the second time you are damaging this body," dark mana sizzled around the Bug Maid’s body.

It appeared in front of Deria and, in an instant, sprayed purple liquid from its mouth.

"Tsk, are acid and claws the only tricks you’ve got?"

Deria created a stone shield to block the attack.

She skidded on the sand. The attack packed a hell of a punch, but she successfully managed to buy enough time for Edith to heal Seria, and now the three besties were ready to begin their counterattack.

Their faces looked like, "Tsk, this bitch has really pissed us off, and now we are going to fucking dismantle this bug’s tendons from its body."

That just goes to show how scary they got.

"What’s with the sudden increase in their mana pressure? How is this possible? The information must have been outdated," the Bug Maid Puppet mused in deep annoyance.

"Tsk. It doesn’t matter. I guess I will have to make do with the power I have in this vessel."

The Bug Maid Puppet got into a battle-ready position, talons placed forward, hind legs sprinted a bit backwards. This battle had reached its climax, and both parties were ready to devour the other.

A spike of ice emerged underneath Deria’s feet and thrust her forward at the Bug Maid Puppet. Sand came onto her body as if it were drawn by a magnetic force. The sand turned into firm armour that covered her entire body and formed a mace within her hand.

The Bug Maid Puppet opened its mandibles wide and, from its tunnel-like mouth, sprayed all sorts of deadly flying bugs at Deria.

"13th Tier Spell: Vermin Bane."

A green-coloured mist burst from the spell circle in front of Edith’s palms. Immediately the insects got in contact with it, they began dropping to the sand like dead flies.

Not just that, the poisonous mist also burned the Bug Maid Puppet’s eyes. It could barely see properly.

"Ahhhhhhhhh. Don’t tell me that’s insecticide!"

The Bug Maid Puppet moved around sporadically with zero sense of direction. It felt a heavy weight on its head as Deria slammed her mace into its face. The Bug Maid Puppet’s body spiraled and dove into the sand, forming a crater.

The Bug Maid Puppet was not ready to give up and its mana skyrocketed at an abnormal pace. Thick dark sinister-looking mana enshrouded its entire being. The sand around it cracked as it released heavy gusts of wind.

"15th Tier Spell: Revin Glood."

A sea of bugs and insects swarmed rapidly towards Edith, not paying any attention to Deria and Seria. Their little but deadly stingers ripped through the vines that Edith deployed to protect herself.

"You will be the first to di—"

The Bug Maid Puppet’s eyes darted around at point-blank range. All its limbs were frozen to the brim. Not long after, its body began to turn into a sculpture of ice. Pristine blue ice encroached slowly on its exoskeleton until only its grasshopper-like head remained.

"That girl..." It turned its eyes forcefully towards Seria. "Not only did she freeze my body, but she also froze my concept of movement."

"Tsk. I guess I’ll have to try with my actual body next time," the Bug Maid mused in its moment of defeat.

"Advanced Original 10th Tier Spell — Absolute Zero: Shatter!"

Seria’s crystal blue eyes darkened. They were filled with rage and anger, not because she got hurt.

"You filthy insignificant piece of shit. You dare meddle with my team and MY Elliot!"

She clasped her palms. A gust of cold frosty wind erupted, blowing outwards from behind her.

"Even a thousand deaths isn’t enough for you, fiend."

Cracks spread sporadically around the Bug Maid’s frozen shell.

"This is not over," Seria scowled.

The Bug Maid’s body shattered into numerous, countless ice fragments.

The actual Bug Maid fell to her feet in some kind of secret room. The link with the puppet was severed, and she was not happy about it.

"Tsk. Next time, I promise I won’t be so nice," a harsh feminine voice rasped.

She stood from the floor, her face and body structure shrouded in shadows, but her glimmering crimson-red eyes peered through the darkness.

"Dark Disciple!"

A tall dark humanoid lizard ran towards her with his tail between his legs.

"What?!"

She clearly wasn’t in a good mood. His very presence irritated her even more.

"Eh... Eh... Eh... How do I put this?"

His fingers twiddled.

"Do you intend to waste my time?" Her eyes shone with great terrifying intensity.

"Of course not." He brought his head down to the ground immediately, shriveling.

"It’s just that... one of the instructors has escaped," he stuttered.

"But—But we are trying to—"

He didn’t get the chance to beg for his life before his head fell on the floor, severed from his neck.