Entoma - Shell Bug

The earth around the war pick in the ground shattered all at once. No, the cobblestones collapsed. It was as if a massive earthquake had occurred in just that one spot. For the first time, Entoma couldn’t maintain her stance. Meanwhile her opponent, through the effect of what magic item, she didn’t know, remained perfectly stable.

Entoma saw the dirty edge of the war pick rise up.

I underestimated this person, she scolded herself.

Dodging it would be easy enough. Certainly, if she were a human and the ground beneath her had been destroyed, she would have lost her balance and found it difficult to escape between the two shock waves. But Entoma was one of the Pleiades, and all the magic items she had equipped were upper tier, so this situation didn’t bother her one bit.

There was just one problem.

To dodge, she had to jump aside, and it would get her maid uniform dirty.

Was that a pardonable offense? It was her best outfit, given to her by the Supreme Beings.

Time...to finish this.

Hostility appeared on her face beneath her mask for the first time.

Time to finish this.

I’m gonna kill you.

Filled with not the mild annoyance of a human brushing away a bug but murderous intent, Entoma raised her left arm to meet the descending war pick. Even a floor guardian wouldn’t make it through this attack unscathed, so for her, it would be nearly impossible.

The next second, instead of metal gouging flesh, the clang of hard object against hard object rang out.

Entoma’s left hand suddenly had a small shield sticking to it, quite literally. There was a bug with over eight legs clinging to her arm.

“What...is that thing?!”

“I...am a bug tamerrr. So I can summon bugs and put them to work for meee.”

She flung her other arm to the side, and a long bug that looked almost like a broadsword flew out of the dark night and affixed itself to the back of her right hand.

“Sword Bug and Shell Bug. I’m gonna kill youuuu. I wasn’t going toooo, but I can’t let this stannnd.”

***

“Your movements have changed! Does that mean you’re taking this seriously now?!” The angry shout came at the same time as he-she swung the war pick, and Entoma repelled it with her Shell Bug. The shock that ran through her was surprisingly intense, but she braced her legs and didn’t stagger so much as a step. There was no harm in doing so, but this was a manifestation of her pride—being moved by a human was obnoxious.

***

Volume 6, Chapter 9.2