Chapter 268
Chapter 268
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 268
Chapter Title: Autumn's Threshold #4
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Luna, who had been stabbing me with needles for a good while, yelled with eyes blazing in fury.
"Let's go to Lord Juno's temple. We'll get your womanizing 'cured' at Lord Juno's temple. And after that's done, we'll head to the Delphi temple to get engaged!"
She kept raising her voice after that, but not much of it got through to me. My limbs felt like they'd been jabbed with massive needles, stinging so badly I couldn't focus.
It was probably because of that straw doll she was holding, the one she kept poking with pins. I had no idea how it worked, but that curse voodoo stuff must've been real after all.
Even while I was busy handling all sorts of responsibilities, Luna had been steadily honing her skills under Nemeia. I could really 'feel' the results now.
It was admirable, but damn, it hurt.
"Uwaaah—."
"Nemeia told me! A man's wandering eye can only be cured at Lord Juno's temple! If we let you go like this, you'll just make other girls happy. I'll be left crying alone every night. I—I can't stand that!"
Luna even hauled my writhing body up from where it was slumped over the table.
Ding-.
『Name: Luna Knoxdoti Lv. 26
Strength: 8
Agility: 12
Vitality: 6
Traits: Flailing | Gluttony Lover | Nocturnal
Status: Lion's Bewitchment | Frenzy | Voodoo Enrapture』
Letters floated up when my wrist accidentally brushed hers. When had Luna leveled up this much?
Must be her bloodline—her growth was insanely fast. And those statuses scrolling below? Total firsts for me.
Bewitchment? Frenzy? Enrapture?
None of them looked good at a glance.
"Come on, Hassan, let's go together—."
Luna grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the office.
Right away, we ran into Elfriede, who was getting ready to clock out. The moment Luna saw her face, she scowled just like before, fury etched deep.
"You—."
"Ah—."
Elfriede had spotted Luna too.
They stared at each other without a word. Even though the needles had stopped, my chest and stomach still prickled uncomfortably.
Of all people, these two—the last ones I wanted crossing paths—had to meet like this.
"...."
"...."
They kept staring silently. Luna's scowl deepened by the second, while Elfriede stayed surprisingly calm.
Luna spoke first.
"Hi."
"Uh, y-yeah. Hi."
Elfriede stammered like she'd never expected a normal greeting. Seeing her trip over her words wasn't something you saw every day—made it feel kinda special.
I was a little thrown too, of course. I'd half-expected them to grab each other's hair and go at it, but false alarm.
Still, too early to relax.
"Thief cat. Bleh—."
Luna, who'd started off polite, stuck her tongue out at Elfriede with a cheeky grin.
Truth was, Luna loved teabagging. After beating Hippolyte, she'd taunt with all sorts of dances or give a monster's corpse a thorough humiliation with confirmation kills. Now she was pulling that on Elfriede, which meant she saw her as an enemy for some reason.
Elfriede's calm expression cracked a bit, brows furrowing.
"Thief cat? Me?"
"Yeah!"
"Funny. If I'm a thief cat, you're the raccoon dog scavenging scraps off the floor."
"Y-you raccoon dog!?"
Luna's voice shook like she'd been truly wounded by the word.
"H-how can you say something so mean!"
She trembled like she'd heard the worst insult imaginable. Come to think of it, Luna really hated raccoon dogs.
When one had raided the yard and eaten all the potatoes, she'd spared no expense buying traps.
"Apologize to me right now!"
"No, you called me a thief cat first."
"But it's true!"
"Huh—? Well, if we're splitting hairs—."
Pop.
A vein bulged on Elfriede's pale forehead. That meant she was hovering between low-key rage and mid-rage.
But she just hovered her palm over the mid-rage trigger, glancing between me and Luna like she was testing the waters.
"Whatever. What's the point of arguing here? I don't fly off the handle at stuff like this anymore. I'm the master of my emotions."
"Thief cat!"
"Yeah, I'm not."
"Thief cat!"
"Vocabulary's limited, huh? Is that the only word you know?"
"Thief cat!"
"I said no! Raccoon dog! Wild raccoon dog! Rabid raccoon dog!"
Finally, Luna and Elfriede glared daggers, growling at each other.
Mana crackled around them—pajit-pajit—like their hostility was sparking off. This wasn't your average staredown. They weren't even mindful of me standing right there anymore, just clashing auras.
"Pointy-ears! Kanpu!"
Then Luna escalated past "thief cat" to the one word Elfriede hated most. I flinched—how did she even know that one?
Had I ever said "kanpu" in front of Luna?
Not that I remembered. Though I did have those dreams about Elfriede during sleep paralysis sometimes, so maybe I'd mumbled it in my sleep.
"K-kanpu? Where'd you even hear that? Don't say it."
Another vein throbbed on Elfriede's forehead. Full-on mid-rage. Like I'd said a dozen times, once she hit this stage and went full fury, out came the flames or the whip, swinging wild.
But right now, no whip, no flames. Knowing that, Luna grinned like she'd landed a critical hit and opened wide.
"Kanpu!"
"I told you not to say it!"
In the end, Luna and Elfriede lunged at each other.
"Take this—!"
Whatever happened to not getting mad? Elfriede's hand shot out to grab Luna's collar.
But her fist sliced only air—Luna, confident as ever, backflipped gracefully to create distance, then nailed Elfriede's chin with a somersault kick heel-first.
"Kek—!"
Elfriede clearly hadn't seen it coming; she yelped embarrassingly as her head snapped back.
"I'm not the same as back then—!"
Luna struck a stance I'd never seen before.
Legs spread wide, waist low, hands planted on the ground, head tilted up—like a wild spider ready to pounce.
I'd heard martial arts drew inspiration from all sorts of places, but this felt more primal, straight-up eerie.
Come to think of it, Luna always had a knack for martial arts and dance. She'd dodge monster attacks with gymnastic flips back in the day.
India's ancient martial art, Kalaripayattu? Something like that?
"Never thought I'd reveal my Ideope swamp spider moves. Don't regret this—!"
Ideope's what spider?
As I blinked in confusion, Elfriede took her stance too.
If Luna's style screamed wild dynamism, Elfriede's was static and restrained, like something from Kalidar.
Elves were all martial arts masters, right? Kinda like that continent stereotype: "All Koreans good at taekwondo?" But yeah, Elfriede's hand-to-hand was shockingly solid for a mage.
She said,
"Think I'm the same as last time, and that cute nose might get broken."
"Tyahaiyaat—!"
Instead of replying, Luna let out a weird yell and leaped high.
Her agility was way past 10 already? Paired with boosted strength, she rocketed like a wolf spider lunging for prey.
Pshoo—
Arms and legs extended mid-air toward Elfriede's face.
Having trained under Hippolyte and the skeleton knight, I figured Luna would wrap around her head for a brutal joint lock.
Luna was spider and octopus in one. And weren't beasts the ultimate hunters, surpassing human limits?
Holy hell, Luna could do this? Except Elfriede just slapped her down lightly, and Luna crumpled powerless to the floor.
"Ugaaah—."
I'd tensed for disaster, but nah. Hand-to-hand? Luna couldn't beat Elfriede. Level gap, experience gap—no contest.
Luna was just Luna, not spider or octopus.
Elfriede slipped both hands under Luna's armpits and hoisted her up.
Overpowered, Luna flailed helplessly to escape the grip.
"L-let go!"
But the fight was over; no breaking free.
Elfriede bounced the dangling, kicking Luna up and down like she was soothing a fussy kid.
Each time, Luna's limbs thrashed wilder—her defeat growing painfully obvious. Like an uncle playing with his niece.
"Pft—."
Then Elfriede burst out laughing.
"You're kinda cute. Why cling to a dummy barbarian like that?"
"Huh? You insulted Hassan! I won't forgive you!"
"Forgive what? What're you gonna do in this spot?"
"I-I'm chanting a curse word. Curse of Awareness—!"
"Curse of Awareness?"
"Once you hear it, you'll start noticing your blinking, swallowing, breathing—panic city!"
"What? That's—."
Elfriede furrowed her brow like she'd heard it all. Right then, Paranoya, who'd been lurking in the corner watching, shrieked like she'd stepped on Lego.
"Th-that's a horrific curse...! Breathing—it won't breathe on its own! Saliva—I have to swallow manually! What curse is this—so merciless! Eyes—having to blink them myself—!"
I'd found Paranoya's reaction weird, but suddenly I couldn't swallow right, my blinks and breaths turned manual. If they'd been auto before, this was pure anxiety switch.
Luna wasn't kidding—simple, yet horrifying.
No, screw it, I was starting to obsess. Unlike suffering me and Paranoya, Elfriede ignored the curse, busily hoisting Luna up and down. Treating her like a workout tool?
I couldn't just watch this brutality anymore and started to step in—
"Pffrrrb—."
A weird noise from Elfriede's mouth. More like air escaping from Luna's belly as Elfriede rubbed her face on it.
"Ehyaaaah—! S-stop thahahat—!"
Luna freaked, thrashing wildly. But Elfriede kept grinding her face into the squishy belly, no mercy.
"Try escaping. Pffrrrb—."
"Hngyaaah, uahaha—!"
Should I stop this? Better than actual punches, right? They'd been growling like they'd bite earlier—how'd it turn into this? Then I remembered Elfriede's quirk.
She loved cute critters like baby animals, but it went beyond petting—to straight-up torment when she got carried away.
She'd owned a cat once. She'd pet its head nonstop or flip it for belly rubs with her face to de-stress.
Cat hated it, bolted from the house eventually. No clue if it lived or died. Probably thriving free somewhere. Maybe even a Bronze-tier cat by now.
Anyway, Elfriede's current vibe triggered that memory.
She'd called Luna cute plenty, so she saw her as a cat or... Chikorita or whatever.
"Ugh, ehyaaah, hahaha—!"
"Say you lost. Apologize for thief cat."
"Ugh, n-no! You apologize first for raccoon dog!"
But even under this humiliation, Luna's resolve was ironclad. No backing down despite clear defeat.
Did that touch Elfriede?
"Fine, sorry."
She gently set Luna down.
"Wha—?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------