Nielstein — Dark Nest

Behind a boulder, a silver‑haired girl drew her bow, arrow nocked, aiming at the corrupted zombie not far away.

Faint red light shimmered along the engraved patterns of her enchanted hunting crossbow.

“Pierce the heart.”

BOOM!!!

A sonic boom cracked through the air. The arrow broke the sound barrier as it blasted toward the monster.

They were less than three hundred meters apart. For that shot, it didn’t even take a full breath. The corrupted zombie didn’t even realize anything had happened before the arrow punched through its heart and blew away half its body.

“Hm… that’s the thirteenth one,” the silver‑haired girl murmured. “The numbers are kind of weird.”

“Uuuh…”

Behind another rock, a tiny head peeked out, trembling. A voice on the verge of tears whimpered, “M‑Mumu‑chan, c‑can we go back… please…”

Seeing the blonde loli this scared, the silver‑haired girl was half helpless, half amused. She walked over and gently patted her head. “Relax. I’m here, what’re you scared of? And you’re at least a Tier‑4 mage, okay? Can you show a bit of backbone?”

“F‑fake… it’s fake!” Tears were about to spill from the blonde loli’s eyes. “And this place is really, really scary…”

By all rights, right now I should be under Nielstein’s warm, cozy sunlight, enjoying delicious sweets and having a nice, subtle yuri talk with Meng Xueyu. So why… did it turn into this…

Morning, Nielstein.

At her desk, the blonde loli was writing carefully, stroke by stroke. Suddenly, the door flew open and slammed into the wall with a loud bang. Her hand jolted, but she jerked the pen up in time, avoiding a smear that would’ve ruined everything she’d written.

“Juicer, we’ve got a job! …What’re you writing?”

“‘On the Compatibility Between Tentacles and Magical Girls’… nothing,” I shut the notebook and turned around. “Something up with those undead on the third floor of the mine again?”

“Nope. Something weird’s going on in the Dark Nest.”

“The Dark Nest?” I was a bit confused. Stuff in the Dark Nest is way above my pay grade. Why are you looking for me?

“Mmhm.” Meng Xueyu walked over and sat on the bed. “Lately some adventurers reported seeing humans in the Dark Nest attacking adventurers. Some people even got hurt.”

“So they got ambushed by someone holding a grudge?”

“That’s what I thought at first, but…” Meng Xueyu’s expression turned unusually serious. “Yesterday, one of the attacked adventurers claimed Tianfan was the one who attacked him.”

?!

“Yesterday Tianfan was with us the whole time and never went to the Dark Nest, so it can’t be him.”

A chill crept up my back. I guessed, “Could he have seen wrong? Or… someone trying to frame him? Hey wait, that’s my cup…”

Meng Xueyu took a sip of water, ignored me, and went on, “Not likely. Tianfan barely knows him, there’s no bad blood. He has no reason to frame Tianfan. And this isn’t the first time. Before this, several people who were attacked all pointed to adventurers who never even went to the Dark Nest.”

“So we’ve got a haunting…”

“So the Adventurers’ Guild posted a quest: find out the truth behind all this! I took it.”

“Mm. Good luck.”

Meng Xueyu’s eyes suddenly looked… off. I quietly took a step back.

“Juicer, you’re coming with me.”

“No.” I took another step back.

Come on. At my level, going into the Dark Nest is basically going in to leave a corpse for other adventurers to loot.

“The reward for this quest is really generous, you know?”

“No.” I shook my head. However high the reward is, you need a life to enjoy it.

“There are rare gear chests in the Dark Nest, you know?”

“The third floor of the mine has those too.” I kept shaking my head.

“The Dark Nest also has rare skill drops, you know?”

“The third floor of the mine does too.” I shook my head firmly. “Why do you have to drag me along? I’m not strong enough.”

“With me around, there won’t be a problem. And you’re my wifey. If you don’t go with me, who else will?”

Thump.

Crap. That was the feeling of venous blood entering the right atrium, flowing through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle, then contracting and shooting into the pulmonary artery, filtering through the lungs, returning via the pulmonary vein into the left atrium, passing the mitral valve into the left ventricle, then contracting again and being fired into the aorta.

My tender face flushed red, but I still shook my head.

Seeing I kept refusing, Meng Xueyu lowered her head where she sat on the bed.

“M‑Mumu‑chan?” Seeing her like that, I started regretting it. Maybe I should’ve agreed? With her there, I wouldn’t be in danger… but if I held her back…

Meng Xueyu lifted her head. Her eyes were red, two trails of tears on her cheeks. In a choked voice, she asked, “Juicer, do you really not want to go with me?”

Crack.

The string of reason snapped.

——————————————I’m the separator back to the present——————————————

“Juicer picking mushrooms~ ♬

With a little adventure pack on her back~ ♬”

“I’m not picking mushrooms…”

Meng Xueyu hopped along, skipping with each step, humming her remixed nursery rhyme… It did sound really nice, though. I followed behind her, walking every step on edge, terrified some powerful monster would suddenly jump out.

“Juicer, look, there’s a blue mushroom up ahead, go grab it~!” Meng Xueyu pointed happily at a lone blue mushroom on the ground.

“No… based on my years of mushroom‑picking experience on the third floor of the mine, that is definitely—”

“Glorp.”

Before I could finish, the mushroom suddenly swelled up, growing taller than a person. Then two blood‑red eyes split open on its cap as it rushed at us.

“Knew it…” I sighed, pulled out my wand, and set my stance.

Just a mushroom monster. I fight those every day in the mines!

“Hyaah!” Juicer swung her staff and charged in for a basic attack!

And got smacked flying.

???

Covered in dust, I climbed back up. That made no sense?! Aren’t mushroom monsters just one‑hit trash mobs?!

Seeing me like this, Meng Xueyu couldn’t hold it in and let out a snort of laughter. Then she explained, “Everything in the Dark Nest is corrupted. They look a lot like the mushrooms in the mine, but they’re way stronger.”

As she spoke, she raised her enchanted crossbow and casually loosed a bolt.

BOOM!!!

“Gugi!”

Another sonic boom. The corrupted blue shroom was blasted open, then dissolved into mist, leaving behind a small white mushroom on the ground. I picked it up, puzzled. “Why are we fighting a corrupted blue shroom, but the drop is a white mushroom…”

“No idea. That’s pretty much one of Nielstein’s top ten unsolved mysteries at this point…”

BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!

Suddenly, several explosions boomed in the distance. Meng Xueyu and I traded a look, then rushed toward the source.

…

By the time we got there, all we saw were mushroom bits everywhere and the back of a man whose clothes were splattered with blood. He heard our footsteps and turned around.

“Tianfan? You’re hurt?!”

Seeing us, Tianfan froze for a moment, then broke into his bright, sunny smile. “No, I’m fine… More importantly, running into you two here is just… the! Best! Thing!!!”

On the word “best,” a grimoire wreathed in black mist appeared, floating in midair. Its pages flipped, and a beam of dark purple light swept out. It all happened in a flash; I could only stare as the beam swept toward us, with no time to react.

But Meng Xueyu was faster!

The instant he moved, she already summoned a wind blade that slashed out. At the same time, she drew her dagger and lunged.

The wind blade met the beam head‑on, and Meng Xueyu was already in front of him. Pale blue mana coiled around the edge of her sword as she swung in a straight, cutting line!

A wand appeared in his hand and he smashed it forward to meet her strike.

Ting~!

Steel rang on steel. Both of them pulled back after the first clash, retreating fast.

Expression like still water, Meng Xueyu said in a low voice, “Careful. This guy isn’t Tianfan… You’re the one attacking adventurers in the Nest, aren’t you? What the hell are you?”

“Pff… haha, hahaha, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

At her question, an ugly, grating laugh burst out, like claws scraping, worse than nails on a chalkboard. He doubled over, hands over his face, laughing so hard his shoulders shook.

Then he twisted his body, face warped in madness, and announced his name—

“I am the wraith that wanders the dark, the nightmare of the living, Mother’s most beloved child—Infected One, Saint Star!!!”

“Die!” Before he finished, Meng Xueyu had already lowered her stance and rushed in. I brought my staff up across my chest and began chanting. A dark‑red magic circle flared into being before me, a terrifying aura building inside it.

Seeing her charge, Saint Star flicked his hand. The grimoire floating beside him fired another sweeping beam of light. Meng Xueyu slid aside, barely dodging it as she closed in. Her small hand twisted, reversing her grip on the dagger into a horizontal slash at his throat!

Saint Star tilted his head, dodging the blade by a hair. At the same time, he stowed his wand and slapped at her wrist with his free hand, knocking the dagger from her grip.

Her expression tightened. She ignored the lost weapon and shifted straight into defense, while her other fist shot toward his face. Saint Star blocked with his forearm. Then he turned his fist into a palm and chopped down at her. She spun aside from the blow, and as his old force faded and new power hadn’t yet gathered, she braced her left hand against her right wrist, using both arms to knock aside his hurried punch, blowing his guard wide open. In the same motion, a knife‑hand strike chopped into his waist, hand turning into a fist that slammed into his gut, then back into a flat palm, fingertips pressed to his abdomen, and another punch followed!

“Guh!” Saint Star staggered back several steps from the shock. But Meng Xueyu didn’t pursue. She quickly retreated instead, opening the distance. Suddenly, he felt a blazing heat surge up behind him.

Boom!

A violent explosion erupted. Saint Star’s lips curled. “Is that all…?!”

Using the smoke as cover, Juicer had already rushed in, staff swinging in a brutal smash!

Suddenly, a memory flashed through my mind: talking to a certain white‑robed mage.

It was a sunny, pleasant afternoon. I was discussing how a mage should train.

“A mage? Obviously you max out HP, stamina, and strength. Pick up one‑handed swords, two‑handed swords, every kind of blade, spear, staff, axe, halberd, and hook. Max Berserk, max Defense. As for spells, just learn one big explosion array. You’re done.”

I was shocked. Ever since then, my mage path has been… a little crooked.

…

Saint Star casually raised a hand and caught my staff swing with ease. He didn’t even have time to sneer before that familiar heat flared again.

Red light flashed at the tip of my staff.

“Saint.”

BOOM!!!

I was thrown back by the blast wave and quickly retreated further, eyes locked on the explosion. There’s no way that kind of attack could finish Saint Star.

The smoke drifted away, revealing his figure.

He hadn’t taken a scratch. Circles of inky green halos rose around him, then joined together, weaving into bands of emerald‑black light that spiraled and coiled around his body.

“Ugh.” I forced down the nausea and looked away.

If Tianfan’s Saint spell was filled with holy radiance, warm and comforting, then Saint Star’s Saint was like the purest aggregation of everything filthy, foul, and corrupt under the sky. Just looking at it made you want to retch.

“Sanctuary.”

Light flared around Meng Xueyu as well. A sacred aura rippled out from her. It didn’t have the overwhelming intensity of a true cleric, but it pulsed with a heart‑shaking will to fight.

They stared at each other for a heartbeat, then charged at the same time!

But the moment Saint Star took his first step, a dark‑red magic circle bloomed under his feet.

“You?!” Shock and fury twisted his face as he glared at me.

I lifted the staff planted in the ground and smiled coldly.

Sneaking them to death would be a huge win. Even if they didn’t die, I still wouldn’t lose out. That’s what you get for ambushing me first.

Another violent explosion went off. Even with an Infected’s power, caught off guard like that, his mana stalled for a moment.

“Sanctuary—”

Saint Star’s face changed as light bloomed in the air behind Meng Xueyu. An angel flickered within the radiance, sacred chants echoing faintly.

The voices of all living things, an angelic hymn.

Meng Xueyu raised her right hand without the slightest hesitation. She clearly just punched toward Saint Star, yet it felt like she was dragging down a whole slice of blue sky.

Saint Star rushed to block. A shockwave, even stronger than before, erupted. A sphere of light appeared where they clashed, then exploded with a roar!

Meng Xueyu drifted back to stand in front of me, the holy aura on her body fading away. Saint Star looked far more miserable—his right sleeve was blasted to dust, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He was clearly injured.

“Not bad at all… you two.” Saint Star’s face was dark. “But that strike of yours… you can’t use it over and over, can you?”

“Mm-hm~ who knows~” Meng Xueyu shrugged, chuckling. “But…”

A breeze curled around her, and a presence surged out—completely different from the Sanctuary Knight from before, yet just as powerful.

“I’m a Wind Whisperer too, you know.”

Saint Star’s expression turned even uglier. Meng Xueyu’s eyes narrowed slightly. Just as the fight was about to erupt again—

“Oh my? It’s pretty lively over here.”

A figure stepped out of the darkness.

“Liliya?” I called out in delight when I saw her face, but Meng Xueyu raised an arm, blocking me. “That’s not Liliya.”

I forced myself to calm down. True, she had the same face as Liliya, but the feeling she gave off was completely different.

The newcomer smiled. “Correct, I’m not this ‘Liliya’ you’re talking about. I am the Infected: mage girl. All right, now that you know my title, please die with gratitude.”

“Just you?” Meng Xueyu’s voice went cold.

“Just me. But to be safe…” The mage girl snapped her fingers. “Let’s call a few more people over.”

“So it still ends up being our turn to show up, huh~”

“Saint Star, that’s pathetic. You actually got beaten up like this by two adventurers.”

“Eat them…”

Yalje, Memory Lane, Shiyuan, Bank Chief…

One familiar face after another appeared in the darkness, but they were all fakes.

Meng Xueyu’s expression was calm as the sea. She spoke softly: “Juicer, we’ll hold them off. You run and get reinforcements.”

“No! I—”

“Be good.” Meng Xueyu looked at me with gentle eyes, but her tone allowed no refusal.

Staring at the girl in front of me, I had never hated my own weakness this much.

The Dragonblood mage giggled. “Wow~ so touching~ What do I do, I almost don’t want to lay a hand on you now~”

“In that case, could you just kindly drop dead on the spot?”

A ray of holy light streaked past us from behind, shooting straight at the Infected!

The mage girl swept her staff, blocking the holy light. Her smile faded as she looked toward the darkness behind us.

“Tch. I’d heard the reports, but seeing it with my own eyes is really unpleasant.”

“These things are disgusting.”

“Liliya, Tianfan!” I called happily when I saw who it was.

“And we’re here too~” One figure after another stepped out into view: Shiyuan, Memory Lane, Little Shark, and several other powerful adventurers, all arriving together.

“Eh? Eh? Reinforcements are great and all, but what’s going on…” Juicer.question.jpg

“Finally.” Meng Xueyu let out a quiet breath of relief and explained to me, “Back when I first clashed with Saint Star, I already sent the wind to deliver the message.”

…So Wind Whisperers can do that? She’s basically a walking wireless phone. So convenient.

The Dragonblood mage didn’t care at all. He laughed. “Clowns, the more the merrier. Your only ending is to become our food, paving the way for our advance.”

Saint Star stared at Starfall Tianfan with greedy eyes, muttering to himself, “I’ll eat him… If I eat him, I’ll be complete, I’ll…”

Tianfan frowned and snapped, “You cheap knockoffs think you’re worthy of being compared to us?! Fireflies see a little light and claim to shine like the sun and moon; frogs jump into a river and claim to share life with the ocean!”

Everyone: stare~

“Uh… why’re you all looking at me like that?” Tianfan’s mouth twitched slightly.

“It’s nothing.” Liliya smiled. “That’s exactly it. Just a bunch of Infected, and you dare brag like that in front of us… We’ll butcher you in three minutes and scatter your ashes to the wind!”

“Then come and try.”

“Try it is!”

Auras burst out one after another—evil, chaotic, filthy, holy, berserk… and I was the only one trembling on the sidelines.

—“My my, it’s been a while since I’ve had this many guests in my territory, and they’re all so passionate. I’m very happy, you know.”

Suddenly, a soft, syrupy voice rang out.

“Mother.” “Mother.” “Mother.” …

All the Infected instantly reined in their auras, lining up on both sides. None of them dared stand in front of Her.

The newcomer was a black-haired, black-eyed girl. She wore a gothic dress and stood on writhing tentacles, smiling gently, looking delicate and lovely.

But the moment everyone saw Her, their hair stood on end, their hearts pounded, their breathing turned short.

This was tension—or rather, fear.

This one was strong. Very strong.

Meng Xueyu and the others exchanged a quick look, then nodded ever so slightly.

If they went all out, there was at least a sliver of hope. Otherwise, there was only one road: death.

With a furious shout, Memory Lane sent forth a spectral azure dragon; Tianfan’s entire body blazed with light, then compressed it into a beam as thick as an arm and fired; Meng Xueyu raised the Soulrending Crossbow and loosed an arrow that broke the sound barrier.

A tentacle under Tentacle Girl shot out at insane speed. With a single sweep, it shattered Tianfan’s holy smite, blocked the enchanted arrow, then coiled around the dragon phantom and crushed it to pieces—before lashing toward everyone.

A rune shield flew in from afar, expanding to a ten-meter wall in an instant. The tentacle slammed into it and was blocked, the rune shield knocked back into its original form and sent hurtling back the way it came.

“Please show mercy, Miss Tentacle.”

No one knew how long this Tentacle Girl had lived. Calling her “senior” wasn’t inappropriate.

“Chai!” everyone shouted in relief.

The one who’d acted was Fan Chai. Her lips moved a few times, but I didn’t hear what she said.

Behind her stood twenty figures in holy robes, faces hidden. Individually their auras weren’t that strong, but the twenty of them together felt like a single vast presence—sacred light poured out, pushing back the darkness.

Fan Chai gave us a quick smile. “Sorry, took some time to gather everyone.”

Tentacle Girl didn’t get angry. She still smiled sweetly. “Fan Chai. I’ve heard of you.”

Fan Chai nodded slightly. “It’s my honor. Miss Tentacle, your child attacked my friend first this time, and he got hurt. We’ll call it even. Since neither side took any real loss, how about we end things here for today. What do you say?”

Tentacle Girl’s eyes narrowed a little. Her pink lips parted. “And if I say… ‘no’?”

Fan Chai sighed. “Then there’s no helping it… Move!”

Boom, boom, boom!!!

Three dark red spheres of light suddenly appeared, forming a triangle as they streaked toward Tentacle Girl’s side, exploding one after another!

Liliya raised her staff. “I’ve weathered storms and seasons, endured heat and frost. O Lord of Cold—Heaven’s Punishment!”

The temperature within dozens of meters around Tentacle Girl plummeted. Gales howled as snowflakes sharper than blades fell, each flake carrying bone-deep chill.

Domain skill—Blizzard!

Behind Tianfan, light gathered into a gigantic angelic silhouette. Tianfan pointed a finger at the Infected; the angelic image burst apart. Holy light exploded around every Infected at once, and all their abilities were suppressed by a full thirty percent!

Fan Chai and Meng Xueyu went all out, pale-blue currents of air swirling around everyone.

“Go!”

All of us turned at once and bolted, sprinting away at top speed.

“Trying to run?! Stay right there!!!”

The Infected erupted in a frenzy, charging straight out of the blast zone and the Blizzard’s range, chasing us with everything they had.

Fan Chai waved her hand. The twenty holy robed figures slammed their sacred staves into the ground and chanted in unison—

“Du må ikke passere dette sted!!!” (You shall not pass this place!)

Holy light exploded forth, condensing into a wall of radiance that pressed toward the Infected like a tidal wave.

Tentacle Girl whipped out a tentacle, striking the Wall of Light eight times in a single breath. The wall shattered, unleashing a massive secondary shockwave that forced the Infected to halt.

By the time the light faded, there wasn’t a single adventurer left in sight. Tentacle Girl flicked a tentacle to block the Infected who wanted to give chase. Staring into the now-empty black nest, no one knew what She was thinking.

…

On the way back to Nielstein, everyone was in low spirits. Understandable—after facing an enemy like that, it was hard for anyone to feel cheerful.

But… I still couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Seeing how I looked like I wanted to speak but didn’t dare, Meng Xueyu suddenly snorted with laughter. Liliya smiled. “Juicer, if you’ve got questions, just ask.”

“Mm…” I picked my words carefully. “It’s just, um…”

“You want to ask why we ran, and why the Black Nest didn’t chase us, right?” Fan Chai said gently. “It’s actually simple. We probably can’t beat them, but if we really fought to the bitter end, they’d at least break a few bones. The price of an all-out death match… is something neither side can afford right now.”

“They’re gathering strength. And so are we.” Fan Chai looked at me seriously. “Juicer, you’re strong. But still nowhere near strong enough.”

“I’m working on it.”

I lifted my head. The sky was a clear, deep blue, dotted with thin white clouds. Underfoot the grass was lush and soft. In the distance, on Nielstein’s city walls, white flags edged in gold snapped in the wind.

I gently took Meng Xueyu’s hand. She froze for a moment, then squeezed back hard and broke into a bright smile.